^^x 






> V 



iv^ 



"^A 



AV ^^- .-.„ c 



-^/^:>^<^%,^' /^^ 



A. .y> 




^^^^- ^^' 



o 







' '^^^^'^ .^^ 






9 I A " \ 







_r-.SS><\ 



t^ C^' 






-^ 



^V- A- 



-..^, '', 






9 1 A -^ \V 



* 9 I A 




CAPT. GEORGE S. ANTHONY 
Commander of the Catalpa 



THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 



BY 



Z.^%. PEASE 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




NEW BEDFORD, MASS. 

GEORGE S. ANTHONY 

1897 



iiUN X7i«Q7' 



2)Ht 







^ 



/ 






Copyright, 1897, 
By GEORGE S. ANTHONY. 

All rights reserved. 



INTRODUCTION 

One hundred years after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, an American whaling captain, George S. 
Anthony, commemorated the event by enforcing 
another declaration of independence which set free 
the Irish political prisoners who were sentenced to 
, a lifetime of servitude in the English penal colony 
in Australia. 

The story of the rescue of these prisoners in 1876 
is a brave incident of history which has hitherto 
'been told too briefly. When Captain Anthony, 
commanding the bark Catalpa, landed the men for 
whose relief the expedition was planned, at New 
York, public interest in the romantic voyage was 
very intense. The boldness of the raid upon the 
English colony and the remarkable features of the 
conspiracy, excited universal curiosity concerning 
the details of the affair. 

At that time international complications seemed 
certain, and there were many reasons why those con- 
cerned in the rescue furnished only meagre infor- 
mation of the inception of the plan and its progress 
during the two years which were spent in bringing 
it to a successful consummation. 

Brief newspaper accounts appeared at the time, 
and this material has been worked over into maga- 



iv INTEODUCTION 

zine sketches. The frequency with which the ori- 
ginal newspaper story has been revived during the 
years which have elapsed suggested that the interest 
was still alive and led to the writing of the story 
which follows. The facts were contributed by 
Captain Anthony, who placed his log-book and per- 
sonal records at the disposition of the writer, and 
the present version is authorized by the man who 
was most prominent in it. 

Some of the incidents of history which led up to 
the Fenian conspiracy in 1867 are compiled from 
familiar sources. The records of the court-martial 
are from transcripts of the proceedings made in 
Dublin expressly for this book, and have never pre- 
viously been published. 

No attempt has been made to embellish the nar- 
rative. It has been the effort of the writer to tell 
it simply, as he knows the gallant commander would 
best like to have it told. 

New Bedford, Mass., 1897. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. Sailing of the Catalpa 
II. Fenian History 

III. The Irish Political, Prisoners 

IV. The Court-Martial 
V. The Court-Maktial continued 

VI. Banishment to Australia . 
VII. O'Reilly's Escape . 
VIII. Other Escapes and Rescues 
IX. Appeals from Australia 
X. The Plot .... 
XI. The Vessel and the Start . 
XII. Whaling 

XIII. A Hurried Departure 

XIV. An Awkward Meeting 
XV. A Strange Episode . 

XVI. Arrival at Australia 
XVII. The Land End of the Conspiracy 
XVIII. Meeting of Anthony and Brbslin 
XIX. Arranging the Details . 
XX. A Critical Situation . 
XXI. Leaving the Ship . 
XXII. The Escape ... 
XXin. In The Open Boat . 
XXIV. An Awful Night .... 
XXV. A Race with the Guard-Boat 
XXVI. Overhauled by the Georgette 
XXVII. Bound Home .... 
XXVIII. A Cordial Reception . 
XXIX. Settlement of the Voyage , 
Appendix , . . . . 



PAGE 
1 

4 

9 

16 

35 

51 

54 

58 

66 

70 

75 

82 

91 

96 

103 

107 

110 

116 

122 

127 

132 

135 

142 

148 

152 

157 

162 

167 

183 

186 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS 



PAGE 

Portrait of Capt. George S. Anthony . Frontispiece '~^' 

Portrait of John Devoy 24 "^ 

The Jail at Freemantle where the Prisoners were 

confined 52 »- 

The Catalpa Outward Bound . . • . . . 80 - 

Portrait of Samuel P. Smith 94 

Portrait of John J. Breslin 112 ~^\ 

The Town of Freemantle, Australia . . . 124 

The Rescued Prisoners 138 i 

The Race for the Catalpa 154--^ 

The Catalpa Homeward Bound 164 -" 

Portrait of James Reynolds 184 ^ 

A Cartoon from the Irish World .... 202 i/ 



THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 



CHAPTER I 

SAILING OF THE CATALPA 

On an April morning in 1875, the whaleship Ca- 
talpa lay at anchor in the harbor at New Bedford, 
ready for sea. Although the whaling industry was 
waning on the ebb tide, there were yet over a 
hundred whaleships sailing out of the port of New 
Bedford, and the departure seemed to call for no 
unusual notice. 

It was a pretty spectacle, to be sure. The still 
waters, the green pastures running down to the shore 
of the lower harbor, and the ship, trim and taut. 
For, while a whaleship suggests to many a greasy, 
clumsy hulk, the outgoing whaler is actually as ship- 
shape and clean as a man-of-war. 

The yellow sun shone on the yellow hull of the 
Catalpa. Her rigging was aglow with fresh tar, and 
her gaudy colors and signal flags gave her a holiday 
appearance alow and aloft. 

Presently the sailors are on the yards, shaking 
out the sails. The captain, with his papers under 
his arm, the very picture of a captain, by the way, 



2 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

strong and athletic in figure, with ruddy cheeks and 
life and fire in his bright eyes, goes aboard with the 
agent and a few friends, who are to accompany him 
down the bay. 

The pilot instructs the mate to get under way, 
the anchors are soon on the bow and the chains 
stowed. The vessel sails out of the harbor, for in 
these days tugs are a luxury which the sailor de- 
spises, and soon the Catalpa is sailing briskly under 
fore and main topsail, main topgallant-sail, spanker, 
gafftopsail and staysail and fiying jib. 

Late in the afternoon the captain says good-by 
to his friends. The wind is blowing freshly from 
the southwest. 

" Stand on the port tack two hours longer, then 
tack out and you will be clear of land,'' said the 
pilot, and, with the prosaic wishes of " good luck," 
departs. 

Later the wind hauls to the southward. Before 
midnight the captain has the vessel under short sail 
and is working off shore. 

And this seemingly commonplace commencement 
of a whaling voyage is, in truth, the story of the 
departure of one of the most boldly conceived and 
audacious expeditions against the English govern- 
ment which was ever planned, — the only important 
Fenian conspiracy which was ever entirely success- 
ful. 

Standing upon one of the wharves on the water- 
front, a man in a dark frieze ulster watched the inci- 



SAILING OF THE CATALPA 3 

dents of the morning with absorbing interest. His 
eyes said a fond good-by to the captain as he rowed 
out to the vessel, for he dared not risk an appear- 
ance in the group which had assembled about the 
captain for a handshake. He was one of the few 
men who knew that greater perils than those which 
usually await the men who go down to the sea in 
ships must be met by the captain if he was true to 
a great trust, and that the vessel was going out in 
response to the cry of men who were outcast and in 
chains because they loved their country. 



CHAPTER II 



FENIAN HISTORY 



" This is serious business now/' said a clever 
English, literary man when he heard of the Fenian 
organization. " The Irish have got hold of a good 
name this time ; the Fenians will last." 

The Fenians were the ancient Irish militia organ- 
ized in the third century by Fionn or Finn, who is 
said to be the Fingal of Ossian. In Scott's ^'Anti- 
quary," Hector M'Intyre, jealous for the honor and 
the genuineness of Ossian' s songs of Selma, recites a 
part of one in which Ossian asks St. Patrick, the 
patron saint of Ireland, whether he ventures to com- 
pare his psalms " to the tales of the bare-armed 
Fenians." 

^' There can be no doubt," writes Justin McCar- 
thy, " that the tales of the bare-armed Fenians were 
passed from mouth to mouth of the Celts in Ireland 
and the highlands of Scotland, from a time long be- 
fore that at which any soothsayer or second-sighted 
sage could have dreamed of the landing of Strong- 
bow and the perfidy of the wife of Breffni. There 
was an air of Celtic antiquity and of mystery about 
the name of Fenian which merited the artistic ap- 
proval given to it." 



FENIAN HISTORY 5 

The Fenian agitation commenced in 1858, follow- 
ing the Phoenix clubs in the sequence of the secret 
associations which have been so prominent in Irish 
history. Had it not been for the American civil 
war, it is quite likely that it would have lacked the 
fame which it subsequently won, but the strained 
relations between England and America inspired the 
hope that war between the two great nations might 
follow, and that this would afford an auspicious op- 
portunity for the uprising for Ireland^s independ- 
ence, which has ever been uppermost in the minds 
of the Irish patriots. Then the war had created the 
Irish- American soldiers, who were inclined to conse- 
crate their energies to a new purpose in behalf of 
their native land. 

The movement was more promising than any 
which had preceded it. In the first place, as Mr. 
McCarthy points out, "It arose and grew into 
strength without the patronage or the help of any of 
those who might be called the natural leaders of the 
people. In 1798 and in 1848, the rebellion bore 
unmistakably what may be called the ^ follow-my- 
leader character.' Some men of great ability, or 
strength of purpose, or high position, or all attri- 
butes combined, made themselves leaders, and the 
others followed. But Fenianism seemed to have 
sprung out of the very soil of Ireland itself. Its 
leaders were not men of high position, or distin- 
guished name, or proved ability. They were not of 
aristocratic birth ; they were not orators ; they were 
not powerful writers. It was ingeniously arranged 



6 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

on a system by which all authority converged to- 
wards one centre, and those farthest away from the 
seat of direction knew proportionately less and less 
about the nature of the plans. They had to obey 
instructions only, and it was hoped that by this 
means weak or doubtful men would not have it in 
their power prematurely to reveal, to betray, or to 
thwart the purposes of their leaders.'' 

The organization flourished in America, where the 
provisional government was established, and it soon 
had its ramifications all over Great Britain as well 
as Ireland. England's secret agents began to report 
the visitation of mysterious strangers to Ireland, 
strangers with Celtic features but with the bearing 
of American soldiers. This did not fail to attract 
the attention of the English government and the 
English newspapers. In " Saunders' News " I find 
an impolite reference to " the imitation Yankee 
rowdies who infest the streets of Dublin." The 
spy system flourished, and when James Stephens, the 
head centre of Fenianism, arrived in Ireland, he was 
arrested in company with James Kickham, the poet. 
Stephens was committed to Richmond Prison, Dub- 
lin, early in 1865, but before he had been many 
days in confinement he was released. Of the man 
who accomplished the liberation of Stephens there 
will be much said in ensuing chapters. The escape 
produced a prodigious sensation and had the effect 
of convincing the Irish peasantry that Stephens was 
the type of leader who would be adequate to the 
great task which had been aspired to, — the raising of 
the flag of an Irish republic. 



FENIAN HISTOEY 7 

Meanwhile the Fenians in America were divided 
on the policy of invading Canada, which was urged 
by some, while others pressed for operations in 
Ireland. A small body of men finally crossed the 
Niagara Kiver on the night of May 31, 1866, and 
drove back the Canadian volunteers, but the United 
States government enforced the neutrality of the 
frontier line, unexpectedly to the Fenians, arresting 
several of the leaders on the American side. The 
Canadians hurried up reinforcements. Several 
Fenians were captured and shot, and the ill-advised 
invasion scheme resulted in a miserable fiasco. 

Once more Stephens, who had returned to New 
York, declared his purpose of resuming operations 
in Ireland, and many Irish-Americans went across 
the Atlantic to await his appearance at the head of 
an army of insurgents. It was their presence 
alone which led to the poor attempt at rebellion 
which was finally made, for not only were the peas- 
antry unarmed and unprepared for a war, but most 
of the people of the country were opposed to the 
wild scheme, and the Catholic clergymen were 
everywhere attempting to avert the certain disaster 
by discouraging the secret organization and the pro- 
posed insurrection. 

Stephens, who was looked for to lead the men 
who sought deliverance from the English govern- 
ment, never appeared. Those who were true des- 
perately resolved to give some sign of their sincerity. 
There were many wild plots, a few conflicts with 
the police. The government was informed of them 



8 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

in advance, and none were successful. The habeas 
corpus act was suspended, and this action was 
promptly followed up by arrests, court-martials, im- 
prisonments, and banishments to the penal colony at 
Australia. 

"In March, 1867," writes McCarthy, "an at- 
tempt at a general rising was made in Ireland. It 
was a total failure ; the one thing on which the 
country had to be congratulated was that it failed 
so completely and so quickly as to cause little 
bloodshed. Every influence combined to minimize 
the waste of life. The snow fell that spring as it 
had scarcely ever fallen before in the so:|t, mild 
climate of Ireland. Silently, unceasingly it came 
down all day long and all night long ; it covered 
the roads and fields ; it made the gorges of the 
mountains untenable, and the gorges of the moun- 
tains were to be the encampments and the retreats 
of the Fenian insurgents. The snow fell for many 
days and nights, and when it ceased falling the insur- 
rectionary movement was over. The insurrection was 
literally buried in that unlooked-for snow." 



CHAPTEK III 

THE IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS 

The man who watched the ship to the line where 
the sea and the sky met was John Devoy. 

Some time before there had come to him a voice, 
crying from the prisons of Western Australia, the 
land of slaves and bondmen, the penal colony of 
Great Britain. In the penal gangs were six of the 
comrades of John Boyle O'Eeilly. Forlorn but not 
quite forgotten, they worked on the roads, ''the 
weary work that has no wages, no promotion, no 
incitement, no variation for good or bad, except 
stripes for the laggard." O'Eeilly had escaped 
from it, but he remembered the men who still toiled 
in the convict's garb on the government road. 

'' They were cutting their patient way into a for- 
est only traversed before by the aborigine and the 
absconder," quoting from O'Reilly's " Moondyne." 
" Before them in the bush, as in their lives, all was 
dark and unknown, — tangled underbrush, gloomy 
shadows, and noxious things. Behind them, clear 
and open, lay the straight road they had made ■— 
leading to and from the prison." 

These men had been soldiers like O'Eeilly, and 
like him had joined the Fenian conspiracy of 1866 



10 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

and 1867, when revolution was plotted in Ireland. 
Devoy had been the indefatigable agent of the 
revolutionary party, having been appointed chief 
organizer for the British army by James Stephens, 
who had been selected as chief executive of the new 
republic w^hich was the dream of the Irish in 1865, 
as it is to-day. In a few months Devoy, quoting 
his own words, " laid up sufficient evidence to pro- 
cure himself a sentence of fifteen years' penal servi- 
tude." Among the men were Thomas Darragh, 
Martin J. Hogan, James Wilson, Thomas Hassett, 
Michael Harrington, and Robert Cranston. 

They were brave, reckless fellows who were 
readily converted to the doctrine of Fenianism. 
They attended the gatherings at the public houses, 
joined in the singing of Moore's melodies in the 
congenial company at Hoey's, and made the chorus 
of " We '11 drive the Sassenach from our soil " in- 
spiring to hear. Then came the arrests and the 
convictions for mutiny in her Majesty's forces in 
Ireland. 

Mr. Darragh was born in 1834 in Broomhall, 
County Wicklow, his father being a farmer there. 
He was a Protestant and when he entered the army 
was an Orangeman, but he was subsequently con- 
verted through Fenian agencies to the national faith. 
He enlisted in the 2d Queen's and saw active ser- 
vice in China and Africa, receiving the distinction 
medal for gallantry displayed. Mr. Darragh had 
attained the rank of sergeant-major and was on the 
list for promotion. He became a member of the 



THE IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS 11 

Brotherhood early in its organization and was ar- 
rested for mutiny in September, 1865, at the School 
of Musketry, Fleetwood, England. He was taken 
to Cork, where he was tried and sentenced to be shot. 
The sentence was afterwards commuted to imprison- 
ment for life. He was described in the prison " Hue 
'and Cry " as being stout, five feet six and one half 
inches in height, with red hair, gray eyes, round vis- 
age, and a fresh complexion. 

Mr. Hogan was born in Limerick in 1839, and 
was a carriage painter by trade. He enlisted in the 
English artillery, but his discharge therefrom was 
secured and in 1857 he joined the 5th Dragoon 
Guards. He was sworn into the organization in 
1864 and deserted the army early in 1865, in order 
to be ready to take part in the contemplated rising. 
He was soon after arrested, trifed, and sentenced to 
life imprisonment. He was a finely-built man, with 
^' the gait and appearance of a cavalry soldier," 
according to the official prison description. 

James Wilson had lived an eventful life. His 
real name was McISTally, but it was a common thing 
for Irishmen to enlist in the British army under 
assumed names. He was born in Newry, County 
Down, in 1836. He served for seven years in the 
Bombay, India, artillery, which he left at the time 
of the white mutiny, when the East India Company 
was abolished. He had lived in Syria and America. 
In 1860 or 1861 he enlisted in the 5th Dragoon 
Guards and was sworn into the Fenian organization 
in 1864. He was continually propagating Fenianism, 



12 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

and in 1865 deserted with Hogan. The fact that 
they remained in Dublin awaiting the uprising, 
although gazetted as deserters, is a fine tribute to 
their devotion. They worked under the direction 
of John Devoy until they were arrested in 1866. 
They were asleep in bed when the police came upon 
them, or a desperate resistance might have been 
looked for. Wilson is described at this time as of 
medium stoutness, five feet eight and one fourth 
inches in height, with a fresh complexion, brown 
hair, gray eyes, and oval visage. 

Thomas Hassett was born in Cork in 1846, and 
was a carpenter by trade. He joined the Phcenix 
organization in 1859 and afterwards went out with 
the Papal Brigade to Italy, serving through the 
brief campaign. In 1861 he enlisted in the 24th 
Foot, and in 1864 was sworn into the Fenian Brother- 
hood. He, in turn, swore in 270 members of his 
regiment. It was his suggestion that the contem- 
plated fight begin in Dublin by seizing the Pigeon 
House, which contained twenty-five thousand stand 
of arms. When it was considered to be in danger a 
guard of ninety men was placed upon it, of which 
number sixty were Fenians. Hassett proposed a 
plan of capture to his superiors in the organization, 
but it was rejected on the ground that they were 
not ready for a general fight. In January, 1865, Mr. 
Hassett was informed while on sentry that he would 
be arrested for Fenianism as soon as he came from 
his post. He concluded to leave at once, and, march- 
ing into the Fenian rendezvous in full uniform with 



THE IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS 13 

his gun on his shoulder, presented himself to John 
Devoy. 

'' Most of the fellows who desert for Ireland's 
sake/' said he, " come to you empty-handed, but 
here am I, ready for work." 

O'Reilly presents a dramatic picture of Hassett's 
appearance at the meeting of organizers, whither he 
marched from the sentry post. He says, — 

" Private Hassett walked off his post and, shoulder- 
ing his rifle, proceeded confidently through the 
streets of Dublin, in which a soldier with arms is 
never questioned. It was ten o'clock at night, and 
it so happened that Hassett knew of a certain meet- 
ing of organizers, and other ' boys on their keepin',' 
which was being held that evening. Thither he 
bent his steps, reached the house, and, knowing how 
it was done, gained admission. The rebels sat in 
council upstairs ; faces grew dark, teeth were set 
close, and revolvers grasped when they heard the 
steady stamp on the stairs and the ' ground arms ' 
at their door." 

" A moment after, the door opened and the man 
in scarlet walked into the room ; all there knew 
him well. With full equipments, knapsack, rifle 
and bayonet, and sixty rounds of ammunition, Has- 
sett had deserted from his post and walked straight 
into the ranks of rebellion. He was quickly divested 
of his military accoutrements ; scouts went out to a 
neighboring clothing-store, and soon returned with 
every requisite for a full-fledged civilian. The red 
coat was voted to the fire, and the belt and arms 



14 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

were stored away with a religious hope in the coming 
fight for an Irish republic. 

" The next evening one more was added to the 
group of strangely dressed men who smoked and 
drank their pots-o'-porter in a certain house in 
Thames Street. The newcomer was closely shaven 
and had the appearance of a muscular Methodist 
minister. The men were all deserters, and the last 
arrival was Hassett. Vainly watching for the coming 
fight, the poor fellows lived in a mysterious misery 
for several weeks. It is hard to realize here now 
the feeling that was rife in Dublin then. At last 
one of the deserters was recognized in the streets by 
the military informer, — Private Foley, of the 5th 
Dragoons, — tracked to the rendezvous, surrounded 
by the police, and every one captured. '^ 

In 1873 he escaped from prison in Western Aus- 
tralia, and lived on an Irish farm for a time ; but it 
was a bad season and he could not get together an 
outfit. After two months he made a dash for the 
coast and stowed himself away on an outgoing vessel, 
but he was captured by the water police and brought 
back to the convict establishment. For two years 
afterward he was kept in irons with the chain 
gang. 

Michael Harrington was forty-eight years old at 
this time. He was born in Cork, where his father 
was a merchant, and he was given the advantage of 
a liberal education. His tastes were for the army, 
and in 1844 he enlisted in the 61st Foot. He served 
through the Punjab war, and also through the Sikh 



THE IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS 15 

war under Sir Hugh Gough, who made the now 
famous exclamation, " Magnificent Tipperary ! " 
Mr. Harrington also took part in the Sepoy war, 
and then returned home with his regiment. He 
joined the Fenian organization in 1864 and was very 
active in enlarging its membership. In January, 
1866, being in danger of arrest and desirous of free- 
dom to take a more active part in the projected 
uprising, he deserted. Yet he remained in Dublin, 
was arrested on suspicion after the suspension of 
the habeas corpus act, identified as a deserter, tried 
and sentenced for life. He was described on the 
prison records as fairly stout, with brown hair, gray 
eyes, and a sallow complexion. 

Robert Cranston was born in Stewartstown, County 
Tyrone, in March, 1844, and assisted his father on 
the farm previous to enlisting in the 61st Foot at 
the age of twenty. He joined his fortunes with 
the Fenian conspiracy and industriously assisted in 
" propagating the faith." Of his regiment at least 
six hundred were sworn members of the Fenian 
organization. 



CHAPTEE IV 

THE COURT-MARTIAL 

The court-martials of the men with whom this 
story deals are of interest in so far as they exhibit 
the extraordinary efforts which were made to con- 
vict the conspirators. This is particularly striking 
in the case of Sergeant Darragh, who was court-mar- 
tialed at Cork, February 21, 1866. In this case an 
informer went so far as to receive the sacrament of 
the Roman Catholic Church in carrying out a decep- 
tion which was to result in the betrayal of those 
who accepted him as a friend. The notorious in- 
former, Talbot, testified in all, or nearly all, of the 
cases, of the existence of the conspiracy. 

The court-martial of Darragh throws light upon 
the details of the conspiracy as well as the methods 
of the spies of the English government, and inas- 
much as it is an episode which has never been 
printed, liberal extracts from the proceedings will be 
given. The charges against Darragh were : — 

First : ^' For mutinous conduct at Cork on or 
about the month of April, 1865, in that coming to 
the knowledge of an intended mutiny in her Ma- 
jesty's forces quartered in Cork barracks, he did not 
give information thereof to his commanding officer.'' 



THE COURT-MARTIAL 17 

Second charge : " For conduct to the prejudice of 
good order and military discipline in having at Cork, 
on or about the month of April, 1865, joined a 
treasonable and seditious society, called the Fenian 
Brotherhood, having for its object the levying of 
war against the Queen, and the subverting of the 
government of the country.'* 

When the prisoner was brought forward he 
handed to the President (Colonel Shute) a memo- 
randum, stating that he had failed in procuring the 
means of employing counsel for his defense, and 
praying the Court to permit his solicitor, M. J. 
Collins, to aid him in the conduct of the case. The 
President said that the Court granted the applica- 
tion. 

Colonel Addison was then examined, and swore 
that the prisoner had never at any time informed 
him of any intended meeting of soldiers in Cork 
barracks. 

John Warner, the informer, was then produced, 
and, in answer to questions put through the deputy 
judge-advocate (Colonel Nugent), deposed : I was 
discharged from her Majesty's service in 1857, after 
coming from the Crimea. 

Did you receive a pension ? — Yes, sixpence a 
day, for the period of eighteen months. 

Were you wounded at the Crimea ? — Yes, in 
] tont of Sebastopol, in the month of August, 1855. 
y Did you join the Fenian Society ? — Yes. 

W^hen did you first become acquainted with J. J. 
reary ? — In 1864, in the latter end of 1864, after 




18 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

being discharged from the militia in Kinsale — the 
City of Cork Artillery. 

Are you aware whether he had any connection 
with the Fenian conspiracy ? If so, what was that 
connection ? — He was connected with the Fenian 
Society as a centre, which means a colonel of it. 

After you were enrolled as a Fenian, did Geary 
give you any particular instructions for your guid- 
ance after you were enrolled ? — Yes. 

State what they were. 

Prisoner. I object to that. 

The Prosecutor (Col. Lane Fox) contended that 
the instructions the witness received for the carry- 
ing out of the conspiracy were not hearsay, and 
quoted an authority in support of that view. 

Deputy Judge- Advocate. This is a statement of 
a third party in the absence of the prisoner. 

Prisoner. I object to any instructions given by 
Geary. The witness can state what he did in con- 
sequence of any such instructions ; but any instruc- 
tions given behind my back, without my knowledge, 
I object to. 

The court was cleared, and on being reopened it 
was announced the question was not to be put. 

Examination by the prosecutor. You say you 
received particular instructions for your guidance 
from Geary. State what you did in consequence. 
— I got instructions from Geary regarding the oathJ 
I was warned three weeks before I came up to the 
barracks to enroll men. I was called before the 
meeting for not going up to the barracks. 



L 



THE COUET-MARTIAL 19 

President. State what you did. 

Witness. I came up to the barracks and met Dar- 
ragh outside the gate. I asked him to go down to 
the North Main Street with me. He went with me 
to the North Main Street, to Geary's. We had 
some drink in the inside tap-room, and during the 
time there I asked would he become a member of 
the Fenian Society, and he said yes. Then we both 
went out in the back yard, and I repeated the oath 
to him, and he did so after me. I then gave him 
a Catholic prayer-book. He swore on that book to 
be a member of the Fenian Society. Then we came 
in and I introduced him to Geary as a member of 
the society. Geary shook hands with him. He 
said he was very glad to have one like him enrolled. 
That was all at that time. 

Kepeat as nearly as you can the oath which you 
administered to Darragh ? — "I (John or James, 
whichever the case may be), do swear allegiance to 
the present republic now virtually established in 
Ireland ; that I will maintain its independence and 
integrity at every risk, and I will obey the com- 
mand of my superior officers. I take this oath in 
the true spirit of an Irish soldier at liberty to free 
my country. So help me God." 

Did you know Darragh before that ? — I did, in 
the regiment of the depot of the 2d Queen's. 

Were you ever in the 2d Eegiment ? — I was. 
I volunteered from them. 

Had you any facilities for enrolling men in the 
barracks ? — Yes. I was told off for that special 



20 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

purpose, and a good many of the men knew me and 
would not stop me going in and out of the gate. 

Were Geary and the prisoner previously acquainted 
when you introduced them ? — I could not say they 
were. 

Did they shake hands as if they knew each other ? 

— They shook hands as a member should be intro- 
duced, in a manner. 

Did you hear Geary give any instructions to the 
prisoner for his guidance ? — Yes. He gave Dar- 
ragh instructions in my presence to go about the 
barracks, and find out any men that would join the 
society and bring men down to Geary's house, but 
not to deliver the oath, — to bring them to me or 
to himself. If I was not there he would swear him 
in. Accordingly he did, and the first man he 
brought was Butler to Geary's house. 

How long was that after you swore Darragh in ? 

— To the best of my belief from a fortnight to 
three weeks. 

Did the prisoner say anything about any partic- 
ular corps that he would work in ? — Yes, he said 
he would wish to work in no other regiment but 
his own. 

Did the prisoner bring any other soldier to you 
or to Geary to be sworn ? — He took none to me 
but Butler. I cannot speak as to Geary. 

Did you hear Geary give Darragh any instructions 
relative to taking the barracks ? — Darragh told him 
the different parts, in my presence, which were weak- 
est and the easiest to get in. He said if there were 



THE COUKT-MARTIAL 21 

one or two men in every passage — enrolled men 
— they would be sufficient with a thousand outside 
to take it. I heard him say that much in my pres- 
ence to Geary. 

Did you hear Geary say anything about what 
was to be done to the commanders when the signal 
for a rising was given ? 

Prisoner. I object to that. 

Prosecutor. When a conspiracy is proved, the 
act of any one applies to the whole. I am asking 
the witness now what was the intention of the 
Fenian Society. We have already received docu- 
ments which do not relate exactly to the prisoner, 
but to the aims and objects of the society. I with- 
draw the question for the present. 

Prosecutor (to witness). Did you hear Geary, 
as a member of the Fenian Society, say anything 
about what was to be done to the commanders when 
the signal for a rising was given ? — The command- 
ers, he said, were to be destroyed if they did not 
take the oath of allegiance to the society. Every 
man that did not take the oath of allegiance would 
be destroyed. I heard Geary say that. 

Who was it said to ? — It was said to Darragh, 
and to different other members in my presence. 

Did you keep a list of the members enrolled ? 

Yes, sir. (A book was produced, which the witness 
-identified as that in which he had the names of new 
faembers enrolled.) 
I The court adjourned. 



22 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

CoKK, Thursday, February 22d. 

The president (Colonel Shute) and the other 
officers of the court took their seats at eleven 
o'clock, when the trial of Sergeant Darrah, of the 
2d (Queen's Own) Eegiment, was resumed. 

John Warner, the informer, who was under ex- 
amination at the rising of the court yesterday, was 
again produced and gave the following further testi- 
mony : — 

Are you certain that the prisoner was present 
when Geary said that the commanding officers were 
to be destroyed ? — He was. 

Are you quite certain ? — I am. 

When he said the commanders were to be killed, 
and all in the barracks who did not take the oath, 
are you quite certain that he said all the com- 
manders who did not take the oath ? 

The prisoner objected to the question. 

Prosecutor. Was it that the commanders espe- 
cially were to be destroyed that did not take the oath 
of allegiance, or that every one was to be destroyed, 
the commanders included ? — Every one, the com- 
manders included, who did not take the oath of alle- 
giance to the Fenian Brotherhood. 

Are you able to read and write ? — I can read 
and write a little. I can write my name. 

President. Can you read print and writing ? — 
I can read print, but not writing. fi 

Prosecutor. Have you ever seen the prisoner at 
Geary's since he was sworn in, and if so, how often ? 
— About three or four times. 



THE COURT-MARTIAL 23 

Where did he generally go to when in Gearj^'s ? 
— Upstairs in a front room over the shop. 

Is there a small room at the end of the shop on 
the ground floor ? — There 's a small room on the 
left hand side before you go into the shop, and two 
inside that. 

Did you see the prisoner go into either of these 
rooms, and if so, how often ? ■ — - Once he went to 
the inside one with me, before he was sworn, the 
inside tap-room. 

Were you ever in the prisoner's room in the 
barracks ? — I was. 

How often ? — Three or four times. I took tea 
with him there one evening. 

Who was present on those occasions besides the 
prisoner and yourself ? — Two color sergeants of 
the 2d Queen's and their wives. 

Their names ? — I don't know their names. 

Did you speak of the Fenian Society in the pres- 
ence of these sergeants, and of the prisoner ? — No, 
not in the room. 

President. Did you do so in the presence of 
those other sergeants ? — No, not at all. 

Frosecutor. Can you state, of your own know- 
ledge, what rank the prisoner held in the Fenian 
, Society ? — Geary told him he would be a B, which 
I was a captain. 
'^ Do you know if Geary and the prisoner are rela- 
tions ? — I could not say. 

1 Were you acquainted with Bryan Dillon ? — I 
, /was. 



24 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Had he any connection with the Fenian Society, 
and if so, what was his rank ? — He was a centre 
or an A, which means colonel in the Fenian So- 
ciety. 

Have you seen him in the company of the 
prisoner ? — I never did. 

Do you know if Bryan Dillon was tried at the 
Commission for being a member of the Fenian So- 
ciety ? — Yes. 

The prosecutor then handed in a certificate of the 
conviction of Bryan Dillon, at the special commis- 
sion, held in Cork, when he was sentenced to ten 
years penal servitude. 

Examination continued. Do you know a man 
named Thompson ? — Yes. 

What was his Christian name ? — I can't say, but 
he lodged at Geary's. 

Was he connected with the Fenian Society, and 
what was his connection ? — He was a B in the 
society, which made him a captain. 

Did you ever see him in company with the 
prisoner ? — Once in Geary's, in the front room 
over the shop. 

Give a description of what took place at Geary's 
house ? — A man named Donovan, from Dublin, 
lectured on the rifle, showing how to make car- 
tridges, and military and field engineering. 

Did you see a rifle raffled for there ? — Yes. i 

Was it the headquarters of the Fenian Society 
in Cork ? — It was the principal part of the city fori 

the Fenian Society to meet in. ) 

t 




JOHN DEVOY 
Organizer of the Rescue Expedition 



THE COUKT-MAKTIAL 25 

Do you recognize this book (book produced), and 
if so, state what you used it for? — This is the 
book on which I swore in Darragh and different 
other members besides. 

Did you make any communication to Sub-Inspec- 
tor Hamilton as to how your being in the barracks 
could be proved ? 

Prisoner . I object to that question. 

Prosecutor contended that the question was legal. 

The court was cleared. 

When it reopened, the deputy judge-advocate 
announced that the Court ruled the question might 
be recorded, but not answered. 

Examination resumed. Had you any communi- 
cation with Mr. Hamilton in reference to your being 
in the barracks with the prisoner ? — Yes. 

Did the members of the Eenian Society carry on 
drill in the neighborhood of the barracks ? — In a 
place called the Lawneys, about a mile from the 
barracks. 

Prosecutor, I close. 

Cross-examined by the prisoner. Did you know 
I was in Cork until the time you say you met me 
outside the barrack gate ? — No, I did not know you 
were there until then. 

Did you swear, in answer to the prosecutor, that 
you came up to the barracks for me, which is true ? 
— I did not come up for you in particular. 

Were you in the habit of coming to the Cork 
barracks previous to the day you say you met me at 
the gate ? If so, for how long ? — No, I was not. 



26 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Did yon come to the barracks before, and if so, 
how often ? — I have come in before, when doing 
Sir John Arnott's business, — conducting it. 

Were you in barracks when the last detachment 
of the 2d (Queen's) Eegiment arrived here from 
England ? — I could not tell ; I was not aware what 
time they came, or what place they came from. 

Did you see Corporal McKillop with me marching 
into Cork barracks ? — I did not. 

Do you know McKillop ? — I do not. The first 
time I spoke to you since I left the depot was out- 
side the gate. 

Did you not speak to me when I marched in with 
my detachment ? — No. 

Did you not go to the canteen to drink with me ? 

— Not when you marched in, but I came in one 
evening to the barrack and had drink with you. 

Prisoner. I wish to have Corporal McKillop 
produced for identification. 

President. Was the meeting in the canteen be- 
fore the time you spoke to him at the barrack gate ? 

— It was a week or two after I met him outside the 
gate that we drank in the canteen. 

Deputy Judge-Advocate. McKillop is on fur- 
lough in England. 

President. You say McKillop is in the bar- 
racks ; how do you know ? 

Prisoner. I can't know, for I have been in close 
custody for six months. 

President. If he be a material witness, he shall 
be recalled by telegram. 



THE COURT-MAETIAL 27 

Cross-examined. Was that the first time you 
drank with me at the canteen ? — It was not. Geary 
and Butler and two more drank with us at the can- 
teen. Geary paid for the drink. 

When was the first time; how soon after you 
swore me in ? — In some time after. 

Why did you not mention that before, in answer 
to the Court ? — I did not think of it. It is hard 
to think of everything at once. 

You say you swore in Butler, and did you swear 
in any other soldier between the time you swore in 
Darragh and Butler ? — I am not sure whether I 
swore in Farrell between them or not. Butler 
brought me a corporal and a private. I think their 
names are in the book. 

Did you swear any and how many soldiers be- 
tween swearing in Darrah and Butler ? — I do not 
think I swore any between you and Butler except 
Farrell ; but I don't know whether he was or not. 

What was the time between swearing me in and 
swearing in Butler? — It may be a fortnight or 
three weeks. 

During that time did you swear in civilians ? — 
Yes. 

State the number ? — It may be two or three. 

Did you swear in any soldier previous to the time 
you say you swore me in ? — Not a regular soldier ; 
there were militia. 

You say I directly went to Geary and took a 
treasonable oath without the smallest reluctance. 
What month was that in ? — It may be in the 
latter end of March or beginning of April. 



28 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

When you joined the Fenian Society did you do 
so for the purpose of betraying them ? — I took the 
oath for the purpose of betraying them, and I could 
not get their intentions without taking the oath. 

When did you join the society ? — In December, 
1864. 

When did you first give information ? — In July, 
1865. I tried before to go to Captain Tooker but 
was followed. Captain Tooker is a magistrate of the 
city of Cork. 

Did you go of your own free will to give him; 
information ? — I did. 

Were you from May, 1864, to September, 1865, 
most actively engaged in endeavoring to induce 
parties to become members of the Fenian Society — 
swearing them in and enrolling them ? — I was. I 
should do so by orders of Geary. 

How many members did you enroll ? — I can't 
be exact ; they are in the book ; but about fi.fty 
altogether. 

The prosecutor said that the witness was not 
bound to answer any question affecting his credibil- 
ity. 

The president said the main point was credibility. 

Prisoner. It was the prosecutor who first asked 
the question. 

The Court decided the question could be put. 

Cross-examination continued. Did you not know 
all the secrets of the society immediately after you 
were admitted ? — I did not until January, 1865^ 
when I was introduced to Geary, 



THE COURT-MARTIAL 29 

Did you swear information against the members 
of the Fenian Society in September, 1865 ? — Yes. 

Did you mention one word about me in that? 

ISTo, I did not, but I told it to Sub-Inspector 

Hamilton. 

Prisoner, I object to that answer. 

At two o'clock the court adjourned for an hour. 

On the reassembling of the court, at three p. m., 
the president (Colonel Shute) said that the Court 
had decided that the witness on cross-examination 
had a right to explain his answer. 

The Deputy Judge-Advocate. The question 
was, Did you make any mention of the prisoner in 
your information ? 

Witness (Warner). I did not. On account of 
mentioning it to Sub-Inspector Hamilton I did not 
think that there was any occasion to state it in the 
informations. 

Prisoner. Do you know that I am a Protestant 
and an Orangeman and a member of an Orange 
lodge at Delgany ? — No. 

Are you a Protestant and did you state to me that 
you were an Orangeman ? — I am a Protestant and 
on my oath I don't think I told you anything about 
my being an Orangeman, because the society would 
come on me if I spoke of anything of the sort at all. 

Were you always a Protestant, or did you cease 
to be one ? If so, when did you cease to be one ? 

I was always a Protestant, but I went to Mass a 

few times, as I thought I would get into their graces 
by being a Eoman Catholic and get some of their 
secrets. 



30 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Was the going to Mass the only thing you did 
about becoming a Roman Catholic ? — That is all. 

Did you not go to a Roman Catholic clergyman 
in Cork and state to him that you wished to become 
a Roman Catholic ? — I did. One of the Fenians 
came with me and said I wished to become a Roman 
Catholic. 

Did you not receive some religious books and re- 
ligious instructions ? — I did. He went with me to 
the monk, and he (the monk) gave me some reli- 
gious books to read. 

Did you go afterwards by yourself to the clergy- 
man or the monk ? — I went afterwards by myself 
to receive some instructions from the monk accord- 
ing to the order I received from him. 

Then your answer is not true that your going to 
Mass is the only thing you did towards being a 
Roman Catholic ? — There was not time, for it re- 
quires an explanation. The answer could not be 
given well at once. 

Were you sincere in your intention of becoming a 
Roman Catholic, or were you only deceiving the 
clergyman or monk ? — I was deceiving him for the 
purpose of getting the information I wanted to get 
from the society. 

When you were in the depot at Templemore did 
you know Sergeant-Major McKinmon ? — I did. 

Did you desert from the depot there ? — I did. 
He gave me money to desert, but I think it would 
be dishonorable to speak of that here, as he is a cap- 
tain now. 



THE COURT-MARTIAL 31 

Prisoner. I wish Captain McKinmon to be 
brought here. 

President. You can summon any witness you 
wish, and the sooner you do so the better. 

Cross-examination continued. Were you tried 
by court-martial for that desertion ? — I was tried 
for being absent without leave, but not for desertion. 

Were you punished for it ? — Yes, I got forty- 
two days for it by regimental court-martial. 

When were you discharged from the 42d Kegi- 
ment ? — Some time in 1857. 

Was not the portion of the discharge which gen- 
erally contains the character cut off ? — No, it was 
not. The books of the garrison can state it. I 
drew my pension in this garrison. 

Where is your discharge ? — I lost it ; but you 
can refer for the form to the local garrison. 

What character did you get in your discharge ? 

— The character was very good. 

Were you examined at the special commission at 
Cork, on the trial of Colonel 0'E.eardon, who was 
charged with being a member of the Fenian Society ? 

— Yes. 

Did you not swear that he was a member of the 
Fenian Society ? — I did. 

And that he came to Ireland to inspect the 
forces ? — He gave instr actions according as he got 
them from John O'Mahony. 

And that you put the men through their drill 
before him ? — One night for him ; but generally 
for a man named Captain Kelly. 



32 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Did you not further swear that he was four or 
five months here, and gave instructions to the 
Fenians in rifle practice ? — I swear I saw him on 
several occasions in Geary's giving instructions to 
Fenians. 

Did not the jury disbelieve you, and was he not 
acquitted ? — He was acquitted at all events. I 
could not swear whether I was believed or not. 

At what time did your son write the names in the 
book produced ? — Always when I enrolled the men 
my little boy would put them down as I would tell 
him. 

The witness was then examined at some length by 
prisoner and prosecutor as to the entering of the 
names. 

Frosecutor. How long is it since you saw the 
book ? — Not since I gave it to Mr. Hamilton in 
September last, until to-day. 

Prisoner. You have stated that all you have 
stated is true ? — I have forgotten a great many 
things ; but all I have stated is true. 

The court adjourned at four o^ clock. 

John Warner was recalled and questioned by the 
prisoner. 

Prisoner. Did you at any time meet in Cork the 
man whom you say swore you in ? — I did. 

How soon after he swore you in ? — I could not 
be exact as to the time ; it was in 1865, at any 
rate, in Mr. O'Connor's timber yard. 

How soon did you come to Cork after you were 
sworn in ? — After the regiment was disembodied in 
Kinsale in June, 1864. 



THE COUET-MARTIAL 33 

When were you sworn in ? — In May, 1864. 

Did you bring the letter from Crowley with you 
in June when you came to Cork ? — I did not. 

Did you see Crowley from the time you left 
Kinsale until you saw him in 1865 in Cork ? — No. 

When did you get the letter from Crowley, and 
where ? — I did not get it at all. 

Were you acting for the Fenian Society in Cork 
in 1864 ? — Yes. At the latter end of 1864 I at- 
tended a meeting at Geary's, the first meeting I did 
attend. That was in the latter part of December. 

Was Geary at that meeting ? — He was ; I was 
speaking to him. 

Was that the first time you spoke to him ? — I 
don't think it was. About a week before he sent 
Mr. Bryan to me, and Geary then told me to attend 
a meeting on that night week. I was speaking to 
Geary in the beginning of December, or at the end 
of iTovember, 1864. 

Did you not swear yesterday that you never saw 
Geary till 1865, — which is true ? — I don't think I 
swore that on yesterday. 

Prisoner. I would ask to have the witness's 
evidence of yesterday read. 

President. This particular portion. 

The evidence of the witness on this point was 
referred to, and it appeared from it that Warner had 
stated that he did not see Geary in 1864 for the first 
time. 

The prisoner then said he had no other question 
to ask Warner. 



34 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The following letter was then put in by the 
prosecutor and read by the president : — 

Mt dear James, — Please add to the list of 
contributors to the Keane Fund the following 
inclosed names, for J. J., Cork. Of course you 
think it awkward to have the names instead of the 
cash, but the following reason, which is not fit for 
publicity, will be enough for you. Since Keane' s 
imprisonment, on 7th Dec, I have paid for his grub 
about £4 10s., so instead of having anything on 
hand, I 'm only waiting for the balance, which I 
hope will soon come to hand. It is so very long 
since I heard from you that I don't know whether 
you are dead or alive. Will you let me have some 
news, and say how is Mr. Johnson. 

Yours faithfully, J. J. Geaky. 

The court-martial of Darragh did not conclude 
until March 2. The testimony against Darragh was 
mainly that of soldiers who testified that the pris- 
oner introduced them to Warner, who administered 
the oath of the Fenians to them. 

Private Michael Harrington was convicted on the 
evidence of a private to whom he confessed he was 
a Fenian, drinking to the health of the " ^ M. C.'s ' 
or the ^ M. B.'s,' or something like that.'' There 
was evidence that Harrington solicited men to take 
the Fenian oath. Another private testified to meet- 
ing Harrington at Fenian meetings when " Erin my 
country " and ^' My heart beats for thee " were 
sung. 



CHAPTER V 

THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 

• An incident in the trial of Private Martin Hogan 
is not without interest, illustrating the arbitrary 
manner of the Court toward the .prisoners. 

Private Foley was under examination, and testi- 
fied to meeting Hogan at various public houses in 
Dublin, where the prisoner's conversation was of a 
treasonable and seditious character. 

At one meeting an American guerrilla officer, who 
had served under Confederate General Morgan, dis- 
cussed plans with them for mounting the men on 
colts, arming them with rifles, and as to the best 
means of carrying off their horses out of the bar- 
racks. Plans of action for the Fenian soldiers were 
also discussed, the prisoner being present and occa- 
sionally taking part in them. 

Mr. McMechan cross-examined the witness, and 
the examination was proceeding, when the counsel 
requested that the witness be required to speak in a 
louder and more distinct tone, and placed nearer to 
the prisoner in order that his remarks might be 
taken down. 

The president ordered the witness to move to 
within two or three yards of the table at which 



36 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

counsel and prisoner were sitting, and to speak as 
loud as he could. 

This was done, but with no more satisfactory re- 
sult to counsel for the prisoner, and a request to 
move nearer and speak louder was repeated. 

The president said the witness had spoken loud 
enough for any man with even ordinary faculties to 
hear, and if these were not possessed by counsel, 
some one who possessed them ought to be procured. 

Counsel then handed in a statement to the effect 
that he did not hear the witness, nor had he heard 
anything distinctly that day. He was not deaf, and 
was possessed of ordinary faculties. He had no 
wish to obstruct or delay the Court, and, that he 
might not do so, he had asked that the witness be 
directed to stand nearer. The observations made 
by the president tended to unfit him for the dis- 
charge of his duties, and he requested that they 
would be withdrawn. 

Subsequently Mr. McMechan sent in the follow- 
ing and stood waiting a reply. 

" Sir, — Having remonstrated with you for what 
you said, and you not noticing it, I now beg to with- 
draw." 

The president read the first communication and 
said, "I am sorry that my remarks should tend to 
unfit counsel from attending to his duty, but I re- 
fuse to withdraw them." 

Mr. McMechan immediately left the court. 

The president directed Mr. Lawless, the prisoner's 
solicitor, to be sent for. 



THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 37 

On Mr. Lawless entering the court, the president 
said that Mr. McMechan had withdrawn from the 
case, and he wished to tell him that he would give 
half an hour, or any reasonable time, to provide 
another counsel if he thought proper. 

Mr. Lawless said he was very sorry for what had 
occurred between Mi*. McMechan and the Court, but 
as he was senior counsel in all the court-martial 
cases, he could not, according to the etiquette of 
the profession, withdraw the case from him, nor was 
he at all inclined to do so, as he had full confidence 
in whatever course he (Mr. McMechan) thought 
right to adopt. 

The President. Have you any application to 
make on behalf of the prisoner ! 

Mr. Lawless said he had no application to make. 

The Fresident. Under these circumstances the 
trial must proceed without counsel. 

Colonel, the Hon. S. J. G. Calthorpe, 5th Dra- 
goon Guards, was examined to prove that the pris- 
oner had not given him notice of an intended mutiny 
in her Majesty's forces in Ireland. 

Sergeant Alsopp and Sergeant Miller of the 5th 
Dragoon Guards were examined to prove the deser- 
tion of the prisoner, and the making away with 
regimental necessaries. 

The prisoner was placed on his defense, and 
stated that his counsel having left him, he did not 
know what to do ; he could get no other counsel 
now, and felt inclined to throw himself on the 
mercy of the Court. 



38 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The president said he would receive his defense 
in the morning, and adjourned the further hearing 
of the case in order to give the prisoner time to 
prepare it. 

The trial of Martin Hogan was resumed. 

Mr. Lawless was present, and handed in a written 
statement to the president. 

The President. Before reading this, I am anx- 
ious to say, that I most emphatically disclaim any 
intention whatever of having said anything disre- 
spectful, or that I intended annoying the prisoner's 
counsel ; and I wish to say that if I should at any 
time — 

Mr. Lawless. The prisoner's counsel is outside 
sir. Will you allow him to be present ? 

President. Certainly. 

Mr. McMechan then entered the room, when the 
president said, ^^I will repeat the words I have 
just said, which were these : That I desire most 
emphatically to disclaim any intention whatever of 
saying anything disrespectful to the prisoner's coun- 
sel, or any other person engaged in this court. If 
at any time I imagined I did so, I should be very 
sorry for it. I would be the last to offend any one." 

Mr. McMechan. I am perfectly satisfied, sir. 

Mr. Lawless. We will withdraw that statement, 
sir. 

The statement was handed back, and Mr. McMe- 
chan, instructed by Mr. Lawless, remained to de- 
fend the prisoner. 

The prosecution was then closed. 



THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 39 

The trial of Private Robert Cranston was one of 
the longest. It was held in the Victoria Library, 
Colonel Brett presiding. Cranston was arraigned on 
the following charges, First : For mutinous conduct 
in having at Dublin, on the 18th February, 1866, 
come to the knowledge of an intended mutiny in 
her Majesty's troops then quartered in Kichmond 
barracks, Dublin, and not giving information of the 
said intended mutiny to his commanding officer. 

Second charge : For conduct to the prejudice of 
good order and discipline in the following instances, 
— First instance : For having at Dublin, in the 
month of December, 1865, endeavored to induce 
Private Foley, 64th Regiment, to join the illegal 
society called the Fenian Brotherhood, having for its 
object the overthrow by force and violence of her 
Majesty's government in Ireland. Second instance : 
For having at Dublin, in the month of January, 
1866, endeavored to induce Private Thomas Morri- 
son, 61st, to join an illegal society called the Fenian 
Brotherhood, having for its object the overthrow by 
force and violence of her Majesty's government in 
Ireland. Third instance : For having at Dublin, 
on the 17th February, 1866, used the following lan- 
guage to Private Abraham, 61st Regiment : " An 
outbreak will take place in a few days. I am to 
get a sworn member of the Fenian Society in each 
of the barrack rooms in Richmond barracks to put 
a bit of sponge into the nipples of all the rifles 
belonging to the men who are not Fenians, and 
thereby render them useless. When the regiment 



40 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

is called out to meet the Fenians, the Fenians will 
advance close up to it ; the men of the 61st who 
belong to the Fenians will not fire on them, and the 
others who are loyal will not he able ; and the 
Fenians amongst the 61st will then go over to their 
party and at once fire on those who refuse to join the 
society." 

Third charge : For having in December, 1865, 
and in January and February, 1866, at Dublin, 
knowingly received and entertained Thomas Cham- 
bers, 61st Kegiment, a deserter from the said regi- 
ment, and not giving notice to his commanding 
officer. 

The assistant adjutant-general, the Hon. Col. 
Fielding, prosecuted, assisted by Dr. Townsend. 

Mr. McMechan, with Mr. Lawless as attorney, 
appeared for the prisoner. 

Deputy Judge- Advocate. Have you any objec- 
tion to be tried .by the president, or by any other 
member of this court ? 

Prisoner. None, sir. 

The charges having been read by the deputy 
judge-advocate, the prisoner pleaded not guilty. 

The prosecutor having stated the case for the 
prosecution, witnesses were called and examined. 

Head Constable Talbot was examined, and deposed 
that he was present at Fenian meetings in December, 
1865, and January and February, 1866. 

Did the soldiers take part in the proceedings of 
those meetings ? 

Prisoner objected. 



THE COUKT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 41 

Deputy Judge- Advocate. The particular part 
taken by soldiers cannot be specified ; only the fact 
that they took part, if they did so. 

Were they present when the objects were dis- 
cussed ? — Yes. 

Private James Meara examined by the prose- 
cutor : I have belonged to the 1st Battalion of the 
King's Regiment (8th) for five years. I have 
known the prisoner since August, 1865 ; in Decem- 
ber, after Christmas, I met him in Hoey's public 
house in Bridgefoot Street. On that occasion there 
were also present several civilians, Fenian centres, 
and some soldiers. I was a member of the Fenian 
Society. There was to have been a rising of the 
Irish Fenians in the army. I was at several 
Fenian meetings in the month of December, 1865, 
at Hoey's ; and in January, 1866, at Barclay's public 
house in James's Street ; and in March, 1866, at 
Shaughnessy's public house at Newbridge, and also 
at Tunny's public house. Barrack Street, in August, 
1865. At Tunny's, in August, 1865, 1 met William 
Francis Roantree, the prisoner Cranston, and several 
others, Baines and Rynd. At Shaughnessy's I met 
Baines, Doyle of the 61st, and some of the 4th 
Dragoon Guards. At Hoey's I met Chambers of 
the 61st, Wilson, Hogan, and Keatinge of the 5th 
Dragoons, a few of the 87th, Devoy, Williams, Rynd, 
and Baines. At the meeting in Hoey's in Decem- 
ber, a rising in the army was discussed. Several 
men of the 61st were brought down to be sworn by 
Devoy and Chambers, and I saw the prisoner take an 



42 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

active part in the meeting. I was never arrested on 
a charge of being connected with the Fenian Society. 

Cross-examined by the prisoner. I was last ex- 
amined as a witness at Green Street. I don't 
know whether I was believed or not. Kearney was 
not tried for firing a shot at me. He was not ac- 
quitted. I was sworn a Fenian by Thomas Baines. 
The oath I took, as I remember, was as follows : 
" I, in the presence of the Almighty God, do sol- 
emnly swear allegiance to defend the Irish republic, 
now virtually established, to take up arms in its de- 
fense at a moment's warning, to defend its integrity 
and independence ; and further to exterminate the 
Saxon out of the land, to keep all secrets and truths 
commended to me, and to obey my superior officers 
and those placed over me." I swore to defend the 
Queen against all enemies. 

Did you swear to fight against her ? — I decline 
to answer that question. 

The deputy judge-advocate told the witness that 
unless he apprehended that what he should say in 
reply would subject him to a criminal prosecution he 
should answer the question. 

Witness. I understand you, sir. According to 
the Fenian oath I was sworn to fight against her, 
although in the heart I did not mean it. 

After swearing to defend her, and afterwards 
swearing to fight against her, say candidly whether 
anything you swear is deserving of credit or belief ? 

Deputy Judge-Advocate. I think that is for the 
Court to infer. 



THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 43 

Witness. I decline to answer the question. 

The prisoner having pressed for a reply, the 
court was cleared, and, on reopening, the deputy 
judge-advocate announced the opinion of the Court 
to be that the question was as to a matter of infer- 
ence, and not to be answered by the witness. 

Cross-examination continued. I was at the Cur- 
ragh in March. I was sworn a Fenian in March, 
1865. 

When did you first give information of an in- 
tended mutiny to your commanding officer ? — I 
decline to answer that question. 

Deputy Judge-Advocate. You must answer it. 

Prosecutor. Answer the question. 

Witness. I gave information in March or April, 
I am not sure which, this year. 

Cross-examination continued. I decline for the 
safety of the officers to say to whom I first gave in- 
formation. 

State under what circumstances, without mention- 
ing names. — For the purpose of injuring the Fenians, 
and the leaders, and so forth, to the utmost of my 
power, I came forward from the motives of loyalty 
and love of justice. 

E/cexamined by the prosecutor. I was, in fact, 
fired at, as I stated in my cross-examination. 

By the Court. The intentions to mutiny existed 
in the months of January and March, 1866, and 
the prisoner was aware of them. I was fired at and 
wounded, and the persons who did it were Fenians. 

Private John Abraham examined by the prose- 



44 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

cutor. The witness being a little deaf, the ques- 
tions were, by direction of the Court, read out near 
to him by Major Gordon. He deposed that he had 
been twenty-three years in the 61st Regiment. 
Some time since the 17th or 18th of January he 
met the prisoner, whom he had known close upon 
two years, at Hpey's public house. On that occa- 
sion there were present Private Harrington, Foley, 
Kenny, Priestly, Cranston, the prisoner, and Cham- 
bers, the deserter, all of the 61st, and a lot of cavalry 
of the 5th Dragoon Guards, and a good number of 
civilians, including one that he had enlisted in the 
60th E-ifles. Chambers shook witness by the hand 
and asked him how he was getting on, and he said 
very well, and asked Chambers how was he getting 
on, and he said very well, that he had drawn £10 
6s. to-day, which was better pay than he had had 
when he was in the 61st. The prisoner and Cham- 
bers went out to the top of the stairs, and witness 
did not hear what passed between them. 

Had you ever any conversation on the parade- 
ground at Richmond barracks with the prisoner in 
February last. — Yes, I was on the parade-ground 
when the prisoner, Cranston, came up to me and 
said, ^' How are you getting on, countryman ? " 
" Very well,'^ said I : ^^ Cranston, how are you get- 
ting on ? " " First-rate," he said. I said, " I 
think things are very slow, or rather dull, this 
weather.'' " No," he said, " they are not ; I think 
things are getting on very well, for there is going 
to be an outbreak in the course of two or three 



THE COUKT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 45 

days, and I can destroy every rifle that is in the 
regiment. '^ Oh," said I, ^' that is easily enough 
done." Said he, " I will have a sworn Fenian to 
go into each room and to stuff the chambers of the 
nipples of the arms belonging to the soldiers who are 
not Fenians with fine sponge." He said that when 
we should be called out, we should get the word to 
load and the soldiers who were Fenians would fire 
over the heads of the civilian Fenians, and that the 
arms belonging to the soldiers not Fenians would 
then be all stopped. Of course he thought I was a 
Fenian at the time. At that time the sergeant- 
major gave the word to take up the covering, and 
interrupted the conversation. No other person was 
present at it, which to the best of my recollection 
took place about the 17th February. On the same 
evening I saw and spoke to Sergeant-Major Young 
of the 61st. 

A few other questions having been asked the 
witness, the court was adjourned to this morning at 
half past ten o'clock. 

The trial of Private Cranston was resumed yester- 
day morning by the court-martial sitting in the Vic- 
toria Library, shortly before eleven o'clock. 

Private Abraham cross-examined by the prisoner. 
The last time I saw Doyle was this morning in the 
square of this barrack. There were five or six men 
present. I was enlisted in Lisburn. 

Were you in the habit of going to houses fre- 
quented by Fenians ? — I was after Cranston spoke 
to me ; I don't remember when I first went to any 



46 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

such house. I might have been in such houses 
before Christmas last, but I knew nothing of their 
character. I saw you at the Curragh, but I can't 
state in whose company, as I did not look after you 
to see in whose company you were. It was after 
the depot joined headquarters. I might have con- 
versed and drank with you there, but I don't re- 
member if I did. I have drank with hundreds, and 
I don't remember every man I drank with. To the 
best of my belief the conversation in the canteen at 
the Curragh took place more than a year ago. I 
understood that in case of a rising the Fenians of 
the 61st were to fight against the Queen, when 
Cranston told me so. I did not when in the can- 
teen at the Curragh understand that the object of 
the Fenians was to put down the Queen's govern- 
ment and establish a republic. 

What did you then understand its object to be ? 
— Well, I did not take any notice what it was to be 
then or understand anything about it. I used to 
hear several talking about Fenianism. I did not 
take any notice of it then. I was asked to become 
a Fenian and refused. 

Why ? — Why, because I thought they were no 
good. I thought there was harm in them. When 
asked to join, I had no curiosity to learn their ob- 
jects. After the conversation in the canteen at the 
Curragh, I thought they were not loyal subjects ; 
but when they were all talking about Fenianism, 
and I did not know that it might not be a humbug, 
I think I gave information about the conversation 



THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 47 

in the canteen at the Curragh, but I cannot answer 
when. My commanding officer was Colonel Eed- 
mond, and I gave him information of everything 
that I knew, after Cranston spoke to me about the 
outbreak. I reported to him in Eichmond barracks, 
and Cranston was there then. I think that was in 
January. I never made any report while I was at 
the Curragh myself. I had always plenty of con- 
versation that I forgot. I reported all that I re- 
membered. 

Will you swear that you ever mentioned to your 
commanding officer anything whatever about the 
conversation in the canteen at the Curragh ? — No, 
I will not. I can swear that I reported to some 
officer. I cannot say whether it was the command- 
ing officer or not. 

Do not you know you never did ? — ISTo, I do not. 
I think I made a statement to Captain Whelan. I 
made no statement in writing, because I can neither 
read nor write. 

The remainder of the testimony was largely by 
informers whom Cranston had induced to take the 
Fenian oath, and charged him with treasonable lan- 
guage. 

Private Meara, 8th Begiment, was the principal 
witness against Private James Wilson, whose court- 
martial came in August. Meara was one of the 
witnesses who betrayed O'Eeilly. He testified in 
the case of Wilson that he was a sworn member of 
the Fenian Brotherhood, and attended meetings at 
various places. 



48 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

He knew the prisoner and met him about Christ- 
mas, 1865, at Hoey's public house, in Bridgefoot 
Street ; also met a man named Williams there. The 
prisoner went up to Williams and said there was 
a body of deserters in Dublin who were kicking up a 
row for their pay, and Williams told him that he 
had paid them. Williams said that he had told the 
deserters to kick up a row. Corporal Chambers of 
the 61st was present, and Devoy. Williams and 
Devoy were Fenian agents, the former being occu- 
pied swearing in soldiers. He was an officer of the 
Fenians besides. Devoy held the same rank as 
Williams, and higher if anything. He heard the 
prisoner on one occasion speak to a man in his regi- 
ment about making prisoners of Sir Hugh Kose and 
the Lord Lieutenant. Civilians were present at the 
time. The prisoner said that Sir Hugh Rose was 
a more important man to make a prisoner of than 
the Lord Lieutenant, and that it would be easily 
done. A man named Hogan was there, and was 
dressed in civilian's clothes. Corporal Chambers 
was also dressed in civilian's clothes. At another 
public house in the month of January witness said 
to prisoner that his regiment would soon leave 
Dublin, and the latter replied that it would not leave 
until the green flag would be flying. I have seen a 
man named Barrett of the 5th Dragoon Guards, at 
Hoey's, and other men, whose names I don't know. 

Private Goggins, 5th Dragoon Guards, deposed 
that he was quartered in Dublin on the 17th of 
January, 1866. He was in a public house in Clare 



THE COURT-MARTIAL CONTINUED 49 

Lane, kept by a man named Cullen. The prisoner 
was there, and a man named Devoy, and another 
civilian who was represented as the man who was to 
command the Fenian cavalry when it broke out. 
He asked the men how they could get their horses 
and accoutrements out of barracks, and Wilson said 
by making a dash at the gate. The man said he 
was in command of cavalry guerrillas under General 
Morgan. He said that the men he commanded used 
to dismount and fight on foot when their swords 
were broken, and he asked the men in the public 
house if they could do so, too. , Witness was in a 
public house in Longford, kept by a man named 
Hughes, in April or May, 1865. Went into the 
house with the priaoner ; prisoner handed witness 
a book, and asked him " to swear to take up arms 
when called upon,'' Witness took the oath, think- 
ing there was no harm in it. " It 's all right, 
now," he said, " you are a Fenian, and for your own 
sake, as well as mine, keep it." 

Witness said : " Jim, you know I have prize 
money to draw, and you should not have taken me 
in that way." 

In November, 1865, the prisoner told him to 
meet him at Hoey's public house in Bridgefoot 
Street. There were two civilians in the room who 
spoke of expected arrivals of Americans. There 
was plenty of beer there, but witness paid for none 
of it, and saw no soldiers pay for it. The prisoner 
was dressed in civilian's clothes in the public house 
in Clare Lane. 



50 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

To the Court. I did not consider myself a 
sworn Fenian after taking the oath I have men- 
tioned. 

Patrick Foley, late 5th Dragoon Guards, de- 
posed that he was in Hoey's public house on the 
17th of January last, and met the prisoner there. 
He was a deserter from the regiment. The Ameri- 
can captain asked how many Fenians there w^ere in 
the 5th Dragoon Guards, and Devoy said about 
one hundred. Hogan, who was a deserter, said he 
could give a list of the names. The American 
spoke of getting horses out of the barracks, and how 
they should manoeuvre in cavalry fighting. 

Wilson declined to offer any defense. As for 
Private Thomas Hassett, he defiantly pleaded guilty 
to treason. 

All the men were sentenced to death, but the 
penalty was subsequently commuted to life impris- 
onment, and was finally further commuted to penal 
servitude. 



CHAPTEE VI 

BANISHMENT TO AUSTRALIA 

After being convicted of mutiny in her Majes- 
ty's forces in Ireland, the men spent weary months 
in hideous English prisons. One day the keys rat- 
tled in the dungeon doors ; they were marched out in 
double irons, chained together with a bright, strong 
chain. They were taken aboard the convict ship 
Hougoumont, where the chains were knocked off 
and they were ordered below. 

There were sixty-three political prisoners on the 
Hougoumont, and they were the first sent out to 
Australia since the Irish uprising in 1848. They 
were likewise the last ever sent to the colony. Of 
these prisoners fifteen had been soldiers, and they 
were placed with the criminals in the fore part of 
the ship at night, although they were permitted to 
spend the days with the political prisoners. 

Of the horrors of a convict ship experience it is 
unnecessary to say more than to quote O'Eeilly, who 
was one of the unfortunate company on the Hou- 
goumont. 

" Only those who have stood within the bars," 
says he, " and heard the din of devils and the 
appalling sounds of despair, blended in a diapason 



52 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

that made every hatch-mouth a vent of hell, can 
imagine the horrors of the hold of a convict ship." 

Strapped to the foremast was the black gaff with 
its horrid apparatus for tricing unruly men up for 
flogging, and above, tied around the foremast, ever 
before their eyes, was a new hempen halter, " which 
swung mutineers and murderers out over the hissing 
sea to eternity." 

Every night the exiles, Catholic and Protestant, 
joined in a prayer which ran as follows : — 

*' God, who art the arbiter of the destiny of na- 
tions and who rulest the world in thy great wisdom, 
look down, we beseech thee, from thy holy place 
on the sufferings of our poor country. Scatter her 
enemies, Lord, and confound their evil projects. 
Hear us, God, hear the earnest cry of our people, 
and give them strength and fortitude to dare and 
suffer in their holy cause. Send her help, Lord, 
from thy holy place. And from Zion protect her. 
Amen." 

The Hougoumont reached Freemantle, after a 
dreary voyage, at three o'clock on the morning of 
January 10, 1868. " Her passengers could see," 
writes James Jeffrey Koche in his ^^ Life of 
0'E.eilly," " high above the little town and the 
woodland about it, the great white stone prison 
which represents Freemantle's reason for existence. 
It was ' The Establishment ; ' that is to say the gov- 
ernment ; that is to say, the advanced guard of 
Christian civilization in the wild bush. The native 
beauty of the place is marred by the straggling irreg- 




Q 
H 

iz; 

I— I 
fa 
!z; 
o 
u 

p^ 

Pi 

o 

C/3 

PM 

H 
W 



BANISHMENT TO AUSTRALIA 53 

ularity of the town, as it is blighted by the sight 
and defiled by the touch of the great criminal estab- 
lishment." 

Then the convicts heard the appalling code of 
rules, with the penalty for violation, which was usu- 
ally death ; and then they were assigned to the road 
parties, and from daylight to dark, in the heat which 
made the cockatoos in the trees motionless and the 
parrots silent, they blazed their way through the 
Australian bush and forest. 

The present was made horrid by the companion- 
ship of desperate and degraded men, " the poison 
flower of civilization's corruption,'' and the future 
seemed hopeless. 

Meanwhile James Wilson sent out an appeal for 
rescue. He sent it to John Devoy in America. 



CHAPTEE VII 
o'keilly's escape 

The men to whom reference has been made in 
the preceding chapter were not the only Irish politi- 
cal prisoners. In 1876 there were seventeen still 
in prison for the attempted revolution of 1866 and 
1867. The leaders had been pardoned, but this fact 
only emphasized the injustice to the men who had 
been swayed by love for Ireland to follow, and who 
were still paying the penalty of their devotion. 

Some of them, and the number included Michael 
Davitt, were in prison in England. Some had been 
pardoned, some had been released by death. John 
Boyle O'Reilly had escaped. He had been in the 
convict settlement rather more than a year, and had 
been granted a few poor privileges on account of his 
ability and good conduct. He assisted one of the 
officers in his clerical work, and was appointed a 
^' constable,'' with the duty of carrying dispatches 
from station to station and conducting refractory 
convicts in the road-gang to the prison. 

But there was no promise of escape in this liberty, 
for there were but two avenues open, the trackless 
bush and the ocean. Suicide was better than flight 
to the bush ; for if the convict could hide from the 



o'eeilly's escape 55 

trained ^' trackers," natives with a keener intelli- 
gence and skill in tracking men than the blood- 
hounds of the South, the only alternative was death 
from hunger and thirst. 

Yet O'Reilly reached a point of desperation where 
death seemed almost preferable to the awful associa- 
tions and weary routine which made the life a horror 
to the poet. But when he told his plans to Kev. 
Father McCabe, whose parish was the bush country, 
and whose life work among the prisoners is a pre- 
cious memory of good influence, the thoughtful man 
said, "It is an excellent way to commit suicide. 
Don't think of that again. Let me think out a plan 
for you." 

After dreary months the good priest sent a man 
named Maguire, who promised to arrange with one 
of the New Bedford whaling captains who were ex- 
pected with their vessels at Bunbury in February — it 
was then December — to secrete him aboard. Two 
months went by, and O'Beilly had now become so 
impatient that, hearing that three whaleships had 
put into Bunbury, he had determined to venture 
alone. That day Maguire came to him again with 
the information that Captain Baker of the whaling 
bark Vigilant of New Bedford had agreed to take 
him on board if he fell in with him outside Austra- 
lian waters. 

On an evening in February O'Reilly started for a 
hiding-place in the woods, and lay down beneath 
a great gum-tree at the woodside to await Maguire 
and another friend. At about midnight he heard 
" St. Patrick's Day " whistled. 



56 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

It was the sweetest music he ever heard, for it 
was the signal of the men who had come to release 
him from a horrid captivity. 

They rode for hours until they reached a dry 
swamp near the sea. Then they waited until a boat 
was brought. At daylight sturdy oarsmen had car- 
ried him almost out of sight of land, and in the after- 
noon they had reached the farther shore of Geo- 
graphe Bay, near the place where they had arranged 
to await the Yigilant. 

They had no water, and suffered horribly from 
thirst. Through the hot day which followed, 
O'Reilly lay on the sand, tortured with blistering 
pains and hunger. Maguire brought him food and 
water at last, and that night he slept on the boughs. 
In the afternoon the white sails of the whaleships 
were seen and the company put out, but to their 
amazement the Yigilant sailed away, never heeding 
their signals. 

O'Reilly's heart was bitter. The men returned 
to the shore and resolved to leave O'Reilly in hiding 
while they returned home and arranged for his es- 
cape by one of the other whaleships. They left him 
in the secluded sand valley, promising to return in a 
week. 

But O'Reilly could not wait. The next morning 
he put to sea alone in a dory, and at night he was 
on an unknown sea. The next noon he sighted the 
Vigilant again, and once more she sailed away. It 
should be said that Captain Baker did not see his 
boat on either of these occasions. 



o'keilly's escape 57 

O'Reilly rowed all night, and in the morning 
reached the sand hills on the headland of Geographe 
Bay once more. Exhausted with fatigue and anxiety, 
he cared for nothing but sleep, and this he could have 
without stint in the secluded valley. Five days 
later his friends returned, having arranged with Cap- 
tain Gilford of the whaling bark Gazelle of New 
Bedford to pick him up. In order to insure the ful- 
fillment of this agreement, good Father McCabe had 
paid the captain ten pounds. 

The next morning O'Reilly and his friends once 
more rowed out toward the headland. He was leav- 
ing Australia forever. Toward noon he was picked 
up by bark Clarice and subsequently was transferred 
aboard the Gazelle. 

This is only the chief incident, briefly told, of the 
escape of O'Reilly. It suggested some years later 
a means to a more brilliant accomplishment, for the 
bravery and ingenuity of the oflicers of the New 
Bedford whaleship in a subsequent event, when an 
attempt to secure possession of the escaping pris- 
oner at Roderique made a strong impression upon 
O'Reilly. 



CHAPTEE VIII 

OTHER ESCAPES AND RESCUES 

The rescue of the young Irish revolutionistj 
John Mitchell, was the first of the series of escapes 
participated in by Irish patriots. Mitchell was a 
talented and brave young man, whose life and history 
have been an inspiration to the devotees of Irish 
freedom. He was originally a writer upon the 
" Nation," but its policy was too conservative for 
his tastes, and in 1847 he founded a new journal 
called " The United Irishman." Mitchell belonged 
to that section of " young Ireland " which advocated 
immediate war with England. He believed the 
time was now ripe, and he set about making his 
paper as obnoxious to the English government as 
possible. He was a brilliant writer and an enthusi- 
ast for the revolution. His plan was to force the 
hand, first of the English government, then of the 
Irish people. He deliberately challenged the gov- 
ernment to arrest the leaders of his party. Then 
he calculated that the Irish people would rise to 
defend or rescue their heroes, and rebellion would 
be effected. 

Eor three years he continued his taunting tactics. 
He wrote in a strain of fiery sedition, urging the 



OTHER ESCAPES AND RESCUES 59 

people to prepare for warlike effort, while he de- 
scribed how to make pikes and use them ; how to 
cast bullets ; and how to make the streets as danger- 
ous for cavalry horses as Bruce made the field of 
Bannockburn. Some of the agencies which were sug- 
gested for the use of the people, when they should 
take up arms, were almost devilish in their ferocity, 
such as the employment of vitriol. At length the 
government was forced to recognize the violence of 
young Mitchell's newspaper attacks, and a measure 
was framed by the government to meet the case, 
enabling it to suppress newspapers like " United 
Irishman '' and imprison the publishers. Mitchell 
was defiant still, and he was arrested. Greatly to 
his chagrin, no attempt was made to rescue him. 
'^ Had there been another Mitchell out of doors, as 
fearless and reckless as the Mitchell in the prison," 
writes a historian, "a sanguinary outbreak would 
probably have taken place. He was sentenced to 
expatriation for fourteen years, and was deported first 
to Bermuda and then to Australia. Smith O'Brien, 
Meagher, and other of the confederate leaders were 
likewise sent there. 

In 1853 P. J. Smyth, who was known as 
" Nicaragua,'^ a correspondent of the " New York 
Tribune," was commissioned by the Irish Directory 
of New York to proceed to Australia and procure 
the escape of Mitchell and his political associates. 
Mitchell was under parole, and his sense of honor 
would not permit him to leave without surrendering 
it. On June 8, 1853, in company with Smyth, he 



60 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

presented himself to the police magistrate in Both- 
well and surrendered his parole. 

" You see the purport of that note, sir," said he. 
^' It is short and plain. It resigns the thing called 
^ ticket of leave ' and revokes my promise, which 
bound me so long as I held the thing.'' 

Then they left the magistrate, who was either 
stupid or afraid to make an attempt to detain them, 
and, mounting horses, rode through the Australian 
woods until Hohart Town was reached, when they 
sailed on the passenger brig Emma to Sydney, and 
in due time reached the United States. Meagher 
soon followed. O'Brien declined to have anything 
to do with any plot for escape while he was on pa- 
role, and his honorable conduct was rewarded by a 
pardon. 

After reaching this country, Mitchell founded a 
paper advocating slavery, and championing the 
Southern cause in the Rebellion. One of his last 
acts here was a lecture, the proceeds of which went 
to swell the fund which was being raised for the 
Catalpa expedition. Later he returned to Ireland, 
where, .owing to some defect in the criminal law, he 
could not be arrested, his time of penal servitude 
having expired, although he had not served it. He 
was elected to Parliament for Tipperary, was dis- 
qualified for a seat, and then reelected. Some tur- 
moil was expected, when Mitchell was withdrawn 
from the controversy by death. 

"Weep for him, Ireland, mother lonely; 
Weep for the son who died for thee. 



OTHER ESCAPES AND RESCUES 61 

Wayward he was, but he loved thee only, 

Loyal and fearless as son could be. 
Weep for him, Ireland, sorrowing nation, 

Faithful to all who are true to thee ; 
Never a son in thy desolation 

Had holier love for thy cause than he." 

The rescue of Kelly and Deasy at Manchester was 
daring and successful, but it was only accomplished 
by the killing of one man, and three were subse- 
quently hanged for complicity in the affair. Colonel 
Kelly and Captain Deasy, Fenian agents in England, 
were captured by the Manchester police on Septem- 
ber 11, 1867, and a week afterward were arraigned 
at the Manchester police office. Being identified 
as Fenian leaders, they were again remanded and 
placed in the prison van to be conveyed to the bor- 
ough jail. They were in charge of Police Sergeant 
Charles Brett. When half way to the prison, and 
just as the van passed under the railway arch over 
Hyde Road at Bellevue, a man jumped into the mid- 
dle of the road, pointed a pistol at the head of the 
van-driver and ordered him to stop. Immediately 
thirty armed men swarmed over the wall which 
lined the road. A shot was fired, and the driver 
was so frightened that he fell from his seat. One 
horse was shot, and the gallant police escorts scat- 
tered and ran for their lives. 

An endeavor was then made to break in the door 
of the van. It was locked on the inside, and the 
key was in the possession of a police officer named 
Brett, who sat within. A shot was fired at the key- 
hole to blow off the lock, and the unfortunate police 



62 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

officer received a wound from which he died soon 
after. The doors were then opened, a woman pris- 
oner in the van handing out the keys, which she 
found in the pocket of the officer. "Kelly, I'll 
die for you,'' said one of the Eenian rescuers. 

He kept his word. 

The prisoners were freed, and were seen to enter 
a cottage near the Hyde Road. They left it unfet- 
tered, and were never seen after by English officials. 
Several men were put on trial for the murder of 
Brett, and five were found guilty, — Allen, Larkin, 
O'Brien, Condon or Shore, and Maguire. The de- 
fense was that the prisoners only meditated a rescue, 
and that the death of the policeman was an accident. 
The five were sentenced to death, but the newspaper 
reporters were so certain that Maguire was not con- 
cerned in the affair that they joined in a memorial 
to the government, expressing their conviction that 
the verdict was a mistake. The government made 
an investigation, and found that he was not near the 
spot on the day of the rescue, — that he was a loyal 
private in the Marines, and not a Fenian. He was 
pardoned, but not unnaturally the circumstances 
caused a grave doubt with relation to the soundness 
of the verdict in the other cases. 

Strenuous attempts were made to secure a com- 
mutation of the sentence. Mr. Bright was fore- 
most with his exertions, and Mr. Swinburne, the 
poet, wrote an appeal for mercy, from which a few 
verses are quoted : — 



OTHER ESCAPES AND RESCUES 63 

" Art thou indeed among these, 
Thou of the tyrannous crew, 
The kingdoms fed upon blood, 
O queen from of old of the seas, 
England, art thou of them, too. 
That drink of the poisonous flood, 
That hide under poisonous trees ? 

" Nay, thy name from of old. 
Mother, was pure, or we dreamed; 
Purer we held thee than this, 
Purer fain would we hold ; 
So goodly a glory it seemed, 
A fame so bounteous of bliss, 
So more precious than gold. 

" Strangers came gladly to thee. 
Exiles, chosen of men. 
Safe for thy sake in thy shade. 
Sat down at thy feet and were free. 
So men spake of thee then ; 
Now shall their speaking be stayed ? 
Ah, so let it not be ! 

"Not for revenge or affright. 
Pride or a tyrannous lust, 
Cast from thee the crown of thy praise. 
Mercy was thine in thy might. 
Strong when thou wert, thou wert just; 
Now, in the wrong-doing days. 
Cleave thou, thou at least, to the right. 

" Freeman he is not, but slave, 
Whoso in fear for the State 
Cries for surety of blood. 
Help of gibbet and grave ; 
Neither is any land great 
"Whom, in her fear-stricken mood, 
These things only can save. 

"Lo, how fair from afar, 
Taintless of tyranny, stands 
Thy mighty daughter, for years 
Who trod the winepress of war; 



64 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Shines with immaculate hands ; 
Slays not a foe, neither fears ; 
Stains not peace with a scar ! 

" Be not as tjTant or slave, 
England ; be not as these, 
Thou that wert other than they. 
Stretch out thine hand, but to save ; 
Put forth thy strength, and release ; 
Lest there arise, if thou slay, 
Thy shame as a ghost from the grave. 



The government refused to listen to the appeals, 
and Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien were hanged at 
Manchester on November 23, 1867, meeting death 
with courage and composure, we are told. Shore 
escaped, since he was proven to be an American 
citizen, and the English spared him lest the protec- 
tion of the American government might have been 
invoked in his behalf. 

One more incident may be added to the chapter 
of Fenian rescues. This was the attempt to blow 
up the House of Detention at Clerkenwell in De- 
cember, 1867, where two Fenian prisoners were con- 
fined. This affair was farcical in conception, but 
its results were cruelly tragic. 

" At the very time that this horrible crime and 
blunder was perpetrated," writes a historian, " one 
of the London theatres was nightly crowded by 
spectators eager to see an Irish melodrama, among 
the incidents of which was the discussion of a plan 
for the rescue of a prisoner from a castle cell. The 
audience was immensely amused by the proposal of 
one confederate to blow up the castle altogether, and 



OTHER ESCAPES AND RESCUES 65 

the manner in which it occurred to the simple plot- 
ters, just in time, that if they carried out this plan 
they must send the prisoner himself flying into the 
air. The Clerkenwell conspirators had either not 
seen the popular drama or had missed the point of 
its hroadest joke.'' 

A barrel of gunpowder was exploded close to 
the wall. Sixty yards of the prison wall were 
blown in, and many small dwellings in the vicinity 
were shattered. A dozen persons were killed, one 
hundred and twenty were wounded, and there were 
other serious consequences. Had the prisoners 
been near the wall, they would have been killed. 
Five men and a woman were put on trial for the 
crime, but only one man was convicted. He was 
found guilty on the evidence of an informer and 
executed. It was agreed that the persons who were 
concerned in this plot were " of that irresponsible 
crew who hang on to the skirts of all secret political 
associations, and whose adhesion is only one other 
reason for regarding such associations as deplorable 
and baneful. Such men are of the class who bring 
a curse, who bring many curses, on even the best 
cause that strives to work in secret. They prowl 
after the heels of organized conspiracy, and what 
it will not do they are ready in some fatal moment 
to attempt." 

And this brings us back to the last and most im- 
portant of Irish national rescue projects. 



CHAPTEE IX 

APPEALS FKOM AUSTRALIA 

In 1870 the Britisli government had granted 
conditional pardon to such political convicts in 
Australia as had been civilians at the time of their 
offense, but the military prisoners were exempted. 
Still the latter were not without hope, as the letter 
of one of them to O'Reilly, who had amnestied 
himself, shows. " It is my birthday as I write 
this,'^ ran the letter, " and I know I am turning it 
to the best account by writing to such a dear old 
friend. Who knows ? perhaps I may be able to 
spend the next one with you. If not, then we will 
hope for the following one. At all events, we must 
not despair." 

The men were not always so calmly hopeful. 
Sometimes — 

" There spake in their hearts a hidden voice 
Of the blinding joy of a freeman's burst 
Through the great dim woods. Then the toil accurst, 
The scorching days and the nights in tears, 
The riveted rings for years and years, 
They weighed them all — they looked before 
At the one and other, and spoke them o'er, 
And they saw what the heart of man must see, 
That the uttermost blessing is liberty." 

And so it happened that Hassett, who was a man 



APPEALS FROM AUSTRALIA 67 

of remarkable daring^ " with his eyes on the doom 
and danger/' made his escape from the road party in 
April, 1869. He penetrated the bush to the sea, 
like O'Reilly ; and after eleven months of priva- 
tion he took refuge on board a ship at Bunbury. 
But he had " grasped the flower but to clutch the 
sting." As he reached the threshold of freedom he 
was snatched back. Discovered and recaptured, he 
was sentenced to three years of hard labor in the 
chain gang at Swan Eiver, with six months' solitary 
confinement. The first part of the sentence is not 
without humor, since Hassett was serving a life 
sentence at hard labor when he made his escape, 
and there was no terror in the additional three 
years of servitude. 

Upon the occasion of the Queen's accession to the 
title of Empress of India, one hundred and forty 
members of Parliament, including Mr. Bright, Mr. 
Plimsoll, Mr. Mundella, Mr. Fawcett, and many 
others of the ablest men of the House, presented 
a petition for the pardon of the political prisoners, 
but it was rejected. 

And so perished the last hope of the friends of 
the prisoners of clemency from the government. 
" Delayed, but nothing altered, more straining on 
for plucking back," the friends of the prisoners, 
with an audacity which must be admired, deter- 
mined then that they should be freed in spite of 
the government. 

From time to time appeals had been sent forth 
from the prisoners in Australia to their friends at 



68 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

home and in America. Martin Hogan had written 
to Peter Curran in 1872, having seen Curran's name 
in a letter written by O'Donovan Eossa to the Dub- 
lin ^'Irishman." A copy of this paper had been 
smuggled into the prison, and suggested the appeal 
to America. 

Then James "Wilson wrote to John Devoy in 
New York, sketching a plan of action, and his 
appeal stirred the devoted man to a final gigantic 
effort. Devoy sent back the cheering response that 
steps were being taken for the execution of the 
plan. 

After a conference with John Kenneally and 
James McCarthy Finnell, prisoners who had been 
released, Mr. Devoy presented the matter to the 
Clan-na-Gael convention at Baltimore in 1874, and 
John Devoy and John W. Goff, the latter of whom 
is now the recorder of the New York courts, James 
E-eynolds of New Haven, and Patrick Mahon and 
John C. Talbot were appointed a committee to carry 
out the project. 

Devoy, Reynolds, and Goff were the most active, 
and, without definitely revealing their plans, such 
was the confidence of the Irish people in them that 
they were not long in securing a fund of $20,000. 
This was not accomplished, however, without the 
sacrifice of business, health, and money, on the part 
of the men most active. Sympathizing miners in 
New Zealand were stirred by John King, an ex- 
prisoner, to contribute $4,000, and two agents of 
the revolutionary party in Ireland, Denis F. Mc- 



APPEALS FEOM AUSTRALIA 69 

Carthy of Cork and John Walsh of Durham, Eng- 
land, brought $5,000 and their personal aid. 

John J. Breslin, a brave man who assisted James 
Stephens, the head centre of the Fenian movement, 
to escape from the jaws of death in 1865, and of 
whom I shall have much more to say presently, was 
assigned the dangerous role of active agent, with 
Thomas Desmond of San Francisco as an associate. 
They were to go to Australia and place themselves 
in communication with the prisoners. 

Finally a vessel was to be fitted out for Australia, 
manned by men fearless of consequences, to rescue 
the life prisoners from their captivity. 

It was here that Mr. O'Eeilly made a valuable 
suggestion to Devoy, that a whaling vessel should 
be sent. Such a vessel might sail on an ostensible 
whaling voyage and avert the suspicion with which 
another ship cruising in the waters of Western 
Australia might be received. The suggestion was 
at once accepted as an inspiration. 



CHAPTEE X 

THE PLOT 

While the fact that O'Eeilly was rescued by a 
whaleship was the direct cause of the determination 
to send a vessel representative of New Bedford's 
victorious industry, there were other reasons which 
commended the selection. 

Men who engaged in this perilous mode of hardy 
enterprise must necessarily be persevering and 
brave. Perhaps the originators of the enterprise 
remembered that it was a whaleship bearing the 
name of Bedford which was the first vessel to 
display the flag of the United States in British 
waters, and that in 1783, when the countries were 
at war. 

Barnard's ^'History of England," a rare book, 
recites that ^' the ship Bedford, Captain Moores, be- 
longing to the Massachusetts, arrived in the Downs 
on the 3rd of February, passed Gravesend on the 
3rd, and was reported at the Custom House on the 
6th instant. She was not allowed regular entry 
until some consultation had taken place between 
the commissioners of the customs and the lords of 
council, on account of the many acts of parliament 
in force against the rebels of America. She is 



THE PLOT 71 

loaded with 487 butts of whale oil, is American 
built, manned wholly . by American seamen, and 
wears the rebel colors. This is the first vessel 
which has displayed the thirteen rebellious stripes 
of America in any British port. The vessel is at 
Horseledour, a little below the Tower, and is in- 
tended to return immediately to New England." 

The New Bedford whaleman has ever been a 
type of enterprise and daring, but the commission 
which these Irish patriots proposed, of challenging 
the British navy with a whaleship and snatching a 
half dozen men from the jaws of the British lion, 
was a supreme test of pluck. 

When it was decided to fit out a whaleship, 
O'Reilly directed Devoy and his friends to consult 
with Captain Henry C. Hathaway in New Bedford. 
At the time of his rescue, Captain Hathaway was 
the third mate of the Gazelle, and O'E-eilly occu- 
pied a stateroom with him. A strong attachment 
had grown up between them, which was strength- 
ened when Hathaway saved O'E-eilly from drown- 
ing during a fight with an ugly whale, in which 
O'Beilly's love of excitement had led him to par- 
ticipate. 

Captain Hathaway was at this time captain of 
the night police force in New Bedford. He entered 
into the plans with interest, and told Devoy that the 
commander whom he needed to carry the expedition 
to success was Captain George S. Anthony. John 
T. Bichardson, the father-in-law of Captain Anthony, 
was a whaling agent, and the proposition was first 



72 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

broached to him, and he agreed to arrange an inter- 
view for the Clan-na-Gael committee with Anthony. 

Captain Anthony was a New Bedford boy, and 
pledged his life to the sea at the age of fifteen. He 
had been a successful whaleman, and his faithful- 
ness had been demonstrated in a service of ten years 
in one ship, of which Jonathan Bourne was the 
agent. 

But the captain had recently married, and had con- 
cluded to abandon the longboat forever. He was 
given a position at the Morse Twist Drill Works, 
where he was employed in February, 1875, when 
Devoy and his friends first went to New Bedford. 

But a sailor is never long contented ashore, and 
Anthony was growing restless. Mr. Bourne was 
inclined to make light of his resolution to become a 
mechanic, and constantly dropped in upon him at 
the shop with tempting offers to return to his ser- 
vice, until the foreman suggested to Mr. Bourne that 
he should " let Anthony alone." Then Mr. Bourne 
slapped the stout sailor on the back and said, " Well, 
Anthony, I '11 let you alone. But remember and 
let me know when you are ready to go whaling 
again." 

Mr. Bourne's experience had taught him some- 
thing. He had detected the restlessness of An- 
thony, who acknowledged that he was out of place 
in a machine-shop, and he knew that one day he 
would come to his office, prepared to sign shipping 
papers, 

A few days later Anthony met Mr. Richardson 



THE PLOT 73 

and said to him : " I 'm tired of this. Go down 
and see Mr. Bourne and ask him if he will let me 
have a ship." 

" Wait a few days ; I have something better for 
you/' said Mr. Eichardson. Two days before he 
had met Devoy and his comrades, and he was then 
carrying their secret about with him. 

The next morning Mr. Richardson again met the 
captain : " Come to the store this evening," said 
he ; ^^ there will be two or three men there whom I 
wish you to meet." 

At about eight o'clock Anthony presented himself 
at Eichardson' s. The store of the latter was at 18 
South Water Street. It was an outfitters' estab- 
lishment, with a stock of such clothing as is to be 
found in the slop chest of the sailor in the front of 
the store, while there was an open space at the rear 
filled with chairs. 

About a big stove sat a number of men, several 
of whom were strangers to Anthony. He remem- 
bered that he had seen them about Eichardson's 
place for several days, and had once been on the 
point of inquiring who they were. Captain Hatha- 
way was one of the men in the group whom he 
knew, and it may be said that Mr. Devoy, Mr. Goflf, 
and Mr. Eeynolds were also present. 

" It's just as well to sit in the dark," said one, 
and the lights were at once put out, which seemed 
to Anthony a rather singular proceeding. 

Then he was introduced to the men, but their 
names were unfamiliar to him at that time. Captain 



74 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Anthony was less a stranger to the men whom he 
met. They had made a study of him for several 
days before they decided to intrust him with the 
secret and the enterprise which was nearest their 
hearts, and they had now decided that he would do. 

The man who stood in the lamplight for a minute 
before the flame was extinguished was of athletic 
build, with black hair, and eyes which were so 
black, bright, and alert that they were the conspicu- 
ous feature of the face. The brilliant color in the 
captain's cheek indicated vigorous good health. 

Then John Devoy, whom Captain Anthony had 
carelessly noticed was a short man with full black 
whiskers, unfolded the plan of the proposed rescue 
of the Fenian prisoners to the astonished captain. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE VESSEL AND THE START 

It was an ideal conspiracy, you see, the plans 
being made under the cover of darkness. Mr. 
Devoy was a brilliant talker, and he knew his subject 
well. He hurried over the story of the revolution 
in which the men were engaged, making prominent 
the fact that his friends who had been transported 
to Western Australia were not criminals. 

Then he sketched the plan of rescue. In his 
enthusiasm it probably seemed the easy task to 
Devoy which he represented it to be. His friends 
would provide a whaleship, fitted for sea. Captain 
Anthony was to sail as soon as possible, and beyond 
keeping up a pretense of whaling, his part would 
merely be to show his vessel off the coast of 
Australia on a certain date. There he would be 
hailed by a company of men in a boat. He would 
take them aboard and sail for home. The shore end 
of the escape would be managed by others. 

Captain Anthony asked for time in which to con- 
sider the proposition, and he was given one day. 
Meanwhile he was pledged never to speak of the 
plan, not even to Mrs. Anthony, whether or not he 
accepted the commission. The captain did some 
hard thinking that night, and the next evening, 



76 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

when he again met the committee at E/ichardson's, 
he told them he would go. They expressed their 
gratification, gave authority to Mr. Richardson and 
Captain Anthony to select a suitable vessel, and left 
the city, well satisfied with their selection of a com- 
mander. 

I have always suspected that Devoy and his 
friends must have aroused the sympathy of Captain 
Anthony and awakened within him a personal interest 
in the men whose zeal for patriotism had placed 
them in an unfortunate position. A promise that 
he would be well paid was certainly inadequate to 
the weary voyage, the risk, and the sacrifice he 
must make in leaving his family. Captain Anthony 
had been married but a year, and there was a baby 
daughter but a few months old. His mother was ill, 
and had not the spirit which dominated Devoy 
appealed to him, there can be no satisfactory explana- 
tion of his assumption of the trust. 

Mr. Eichardson and Captain Anthony now com- 
menced their search for a vessel. They looked at 
the Jeannette, a New Bedford whaler, the Sea Gull, 
a Boston clipper and fast, but in need of expensive 
repairs, and the Addison, formerly a whaleship, but 
at that time a packet running on the route between 
Boston and Fayal. None were regarded as entirely 
suitable. 

At last they heard of the Catalpa. She was for- 
merly a whaleship sailing out of New Bedford, but 
had been placed in the merchant service. She had 
just returned with a cargo of logwood from the West 



THE VESSEL AND THE START 77 

Indies and was for sale. Captain Anthony and Mr. 
Eichardson went to East Boston, where she lay. 
They were satisfied with her, and, finding she could 
be bought cheaply, communicated with the commit- 
tee, which authorized her purchase. She was bought 
on March 13, 1875, and the price paid was $5,500. 

The Catalpa was a vessel of 202.05 tons net, 
90 feet in length, 25 feet in breadth, with a depth of 
12.2 feet. She was rigged as a merchant bark, with 
double topsails, a poop deck, and cabin half above 
decks. Her main deck was roomy and she had an 
open hold, there being nothing between decks 
excepting her beams. The house and galley were 
on deck, merchant fashion; altogether she seemed 
a stanch vessel. The bark was brought around to 
New Bedford and the fitting commenced at City 
Wharf under Captain Anthony's direction. 

Davits and whaleboat gear were rigged, a forecas- 
tle was built for the sailors, a half deck put in, sail 
and rigging pens built on one side and a steerage on 
the other. Then it was discovered that the riding 
keelson was rotten, and John W. Howland, who was 
in charge of the repairs, performed a mechanical feat 
never before attempted. The foot of the mainmast 
rests upon this part of the vessel, yet a new piece 
was put in with such skill that the rigging did not 
settle throughout the voyage. 

The bark was provided with a forward and after 
cabin. Two rooms on the starboard side were 
knocked into one for the use of the captain, the 
mate's room was on the port side, opposite, and the 



78 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

second and third mates were furnished accommoda- 
tions in the forward cabin. 

The vessel was fitted ostensibly for a whaling 
voyage of eighteen months or two years in the North 
and South Atlantic. Captain Anthony was given 
supreme authority in the arrangement of the vessel 
and in securing the fittings, and gave his personal 
attention to the stowing of the ship. 

On the day of sailing, the vessel and outfit had 
cost the Clan-na-Gael committee $18,000. The ves- 
sel stood in the name of James Reynolds of New 
Haven, a fact which aroused considerable curiosity 
among the New Bedford whaling agents, since he 
was a newcomer in the field which they had re- 
garded as a monopoly. 

The conspirators made but one request with rela- 
tion to the crew. They wished to have one of their 
number accompany the vessel, and Dennis Duggan 
was selected. He was shipped as carpenter. Other- 
wise the responsibility was placed with Captain An- 
thony, and it was a difiicult task, requiring no little 
discretion and knowledge of the character of men. 

He made a wise choice, it will be seen later, in the 
selection of Samuel P. Smith of Edgartown as first 
mate. The crew was purposely made up largely 
of Kanakas, Malays, and Africans, since they were 
likely to be less suspicious than other sailors and 
could better endure the climate of the southern seas. 

The shipping articles described the crew as finally 
made up as follows. The names of some of the 
men were invented and bestowed upon them by the 
shipping agents. 



THE VESSEL AND THE START 



79 



S m 

2 « 
COS, 



55 2 



W H 1^ W C t-f ts a 

CD »^.~S £-'l-=l95 93 
[Jj-S rt- p • 



o as, <» 
CD 3 » >-* 

F CD* S 






S'^ 



CD ffl- 

3. tip 
CO • B 



S o g w^.^ 
.'='2. 



o 

p 
SB?- 



OQ 






r^of^?^^^^|'ogf|'^--i'f'pf; 



^ 



CD C« CD CD 

s p b a 

p B P P 

■ fff' ' 



i^ ►I'O 



C-i^ CD g ^ 



O 



■ w 



(Wp'p'p'p'p'p'p'p'p'p' p'cIq'oi? S p'dq' p* p" 2 3 ^3 
B'ciooc^oooooooB' B'<3 ocrooSSfsS 

s^ .^ J^ .^ .^ J'' f S^ .^ S^ ?^ 5^ ?*■ s* • ?''s*?''.^B B fs 



Edgartown. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
Raynham. 
Exeter, N. H. 
New Bedford. 
Woodstock. 
New Britain. 

New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 
New Bedford. 


CD 


United States. 
Brava. 

United States. 
United States. 
Malay. 
Malay. 

United States. 
United States. 
Cape de Verde. 
United States. 
United States. 
United States. 
Hope Island. 
Malay. 
Malay. 
Malay. 
Malay. 
St. Helena. 
St. Helena. 
Hope Island. 
St. Helena. 
St. Lucia. 


B B* 

CO© 

2^B 


OH»0000t0t0i-'i-i|-i|-it*O-J-JOi-'CDOH*Wrf>>MiX» 




io 00 <3J ^ «0 OS rf^ W fcO W ^ bS W CD 00 '►-' If., bl M OS H.' I-» 


f 


qq* — p ^^gi-^^^ — — — p ^•^- gPc^'g^BBSs 


CD Q 



w 



WWQWWWWWWbJtdWWWWWWWWWWWQ 
c'p'p p'p'p'p'p'p'p'p'p'c'b'p'o 5'5'p'p'p'p'p 
• t>r • tff pf 9r K- p^ tfi- pr t^ 9r • 






80 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Although the suspicions of nobody had been 
aroused in any quarter which would lead to anxiety, 
the shipping agents were very persistent in their in- 
quiries about the destination of the ship. 

'' Captain Anthony is going where he has a mind 
and will stay as long as he pleases/' was Mr. Rich- 
ardson's invariable reply to those who questioned 
him. 

The bark was now ready for sea, and Devoy, who 
was at this time night editor of the "New York 
Herald," went to New Bedford to give Captain 
Anthony his final instructions. 

" You will cruise until fall, about six months, in 
the North Atlantic," were Devoy's orders. " Then 
you are to put in at Fayal, ship home any oil which 
you may have taken, and sail at once for Australia, 
where we expect you to arrive early in the spring 
of 1876. You are to go to Bunbury, on the west 
coast, and there communications will be opened up 
with you from our Australian agent." 

The serious illness of Captain Anthony's mother 
delayed his departure for two days. Devoy remained 
over, and at nine o'clock on Thursday morning, 
April 29, 1875, he waved his handkerchief in fare- 
well to Captain Anthony as he rowed away from the 
dock to board the Catalpa. 

Although a large company of his friends had 
made up a party to accompany the captain down the 
bay, he could not trust himself to bring his wife. 
He had said good-by to his wife and baby at home. 

This was the first anniversary of Captain An- 




Q 

o 

m 

O 

H 

O 

•< 

O 

w 



THE VESSEL AND THE START 81 

thony's wedding, and among those who were on the 
bark was Eev. 0. A. Roberts, the clergyman who 
had officiated at the marriage. Mr, Roberts was 
curious to see a chronometer, and after the vessel 
was under way he examined it and asked about its 
winding. Captain Anthony's attention thus being 
called to it, he learned that he was bound to sea 
without a key for his chronometer. Fortunately a 
mechanic named Arnett was on the vessel, and , he 
bored and filed an old clock key to fit the chronom- 
eter, and it was wound. This was only the com- 
mencement of trouble with the chronometer, which 
continued throughout the voyage. 

Late in the afternoon, off Cuttyhunk, the friends 
on shore left the Catalpa. During the remainder of 
that day Captain Anthony was in the depths of de- 
spondency. While in the companionship of Devoy 
and the conspirators he had imbibed the enthusiasm 
and spirit of the affair. But now he was alone with 
the responsibility. There was not an officer with 
whom he could share his secret. With a hulk of a 
whaleship he was defying the mightiest naval power 
on earth. 

In the evening half a gale was blowing and the 
bark was plunging drearily in heavy seas, under 
short sail. The captain thought of his wife, his 
child, and his mother sick at home, and he thought 
of the task he had assumed to accomplish in the 
convict land of Australia. There was gloom within 
the little cabin that evening, as well as without. 



CHAPTEE Xn 

WHALING 

Btjt the heart-heaviness did not last long. If 
Captain Anthony had not been a man of exceptional 
pluck, he would not have been bound to Australia 
in the Catalpa. The first days of a voyage are busy. 
The crew is called aft, watches are told ofiP, and 
boats' crews selected. The regulations to be ob- 
served on shipboard are read, and the master gives 
general instructions to be obeyed during the voyage. 
Then, if the weather permits, the boats are lowered 
and the green hands are taught their places and the 
handling of their oars. 

Perhaps the reader will be interested in the first 
entry in the log-book of the voyage which was to 
become famous. It is prosaic enough : — 

Eemakks on Board Bakk Catalpa, Captain Anthont, 
Outward Bound, Thursday, Apr, 29th, 1875. 

This day commences with light breezes from the 

S. E. and clear weather. At 9 A. m. took our anchors 

and stood to sea. At 11.30 the captain came on 

board with officers. Crew all on board. 

Eor several days thereafter all hands were busily 
employed in getting the vessel ready for whaling. 



WHALING 83 

Captain Anthony did not enter into the preparations 
with the spirit which might have been expected 
under different circumstances, possibly, but the work 
afforded relief from the routine. 

The chronometer once more intruded itself upon 
the captain's troubled mind. After taking a num- 
ber of sights and making a computation by it, the 
result showed the vessel to be in the interior of New 
York State. The hammering and pounding which 
the instrument had undergone in the process of fit- 
ting the key had changed the rate. The captain 
and the mate corrected it, but when three days out 
a German bark was signaled and it was found that 
there was a difference of forty miles in longitude 
between the navigators. The chronometer was 
never reliable thereafter, and the captain was never 
certain of his position. 

Violent, rugged weather was now encountered. 
The first whale was raised on the afternoon of May 
3, but it was going quickly to windward and there 
was no chance to lower the boats. The next day at 
five p. M., when on the southern edge of the Gulf, 
a school of whales was sighted and the vessel was 
luffed to the wind ; but again the whales were going 
so fast that it was useless to lower. On May 5 
another school of whales was sighted on the lee 
quarter and the captain wore ship to head them off. 
A heavy squall arose, with rain, and under two lower 
topsails the bark dashed along, but the whales were 
elusive. All the next day the chase continued, and 
one small whale was taken. 



84 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The whale was taken alongside. At 5.30 the work 
of cutting commenced and it was finished at eight in 
the evening. The great pieces of blubber are hauled 
over the main hatch and minced into fine pieces, 
called ^' horse pieces." Then the boiling commences. 
Water is turned into caboose pens, or jogs along 
the deck, to prevent the woodwork catching fire 
from the try works. The casks containing provi- 
sions, towlines, and sails are emptied, cleansed, and 
swabbed clean. The hot oil is then poured in and 
the casks are lashed to the rail on the ship's side to 
cool before being stored below. 

This whale was a very small one and made but 
about twenty barrels of oil. It may not be uninter- 
esting to give the reader some idea of the size of the 
right whale, which is the largest of whales. Cap- 
tain Davis, a veteran whaleman, has made a compari- 
son of the various parts with familiar objects, which 
is here quoted : ^' The blubber, or blanket, of a large 
right whale would carpet a room twenty-two yards 
long and nine yards wide, averaging half a yard in 
thickness. Set up a saw-log two feet in diameter 
and twenty feet in length for the ridgepole of the 
room we propose to build ; then raise it in the air 
fifteen feet, and support it with pieces of timber 
seventeen feet long, spread, say, nine feet. This 
will make a room nine feet wide at the bottom, two 
feet wide at the peak, and twenty feet long, and will 
convey an idea of the upper jaw, the saw-log and 
slanting supports representing the bone. These 
walls of bone are clasped by the white blubbery 



WHALING 85 

lips, which at the bottom are four feet thick, taper- 
ing to a blunt edge, where they fit into a rebate sunk 
in the upper jaw. The throat is four feet, and is 
mainly blubber, interpenetrated by fibrous, muscular 
flesh. The lips and throat of a two-hundred-and- 
fifty-barrel whale should yield sixty barrels of oil, 
and, with the supporting jaw-bones, will weigh as 
much as twenty-five oxen of one thousand pounds 
each. Attached to the throat by a broad base is the 
enormous tongue, the size of which can be better 
conceived by the fact that twenty-five barrels of oil 
have been taken from one. Such a tongue would 
equal in weight ten oxen. The tail of such a whale 
is about twenty-five feet broad and six feet deep, 
and is considerably more forked than that of the 
spermaceti. The point of juncture with the body is 
about four feet in diameter, the vertebra about fifteen 
inches, the remainder of the small being packed 
with rope-like tendons from the size of a finger to 
that of a man's leg. The great rounded joint at the 
base of the skull gleams like an ivory sphere, nearly 
as large round as a carriage wheel. Through the 
greatest blood-vessels, more than a foot in diameter, 
surges, at each pulsation of a heart as large as a 
hogshead, a torrent of barrels of blood heated to one 
hundred and four degrees. The respiratory canal is 
over twelve inches in diameter, through which the 
rush of air is as noisy as the exhaust-pipe of a thou- 
sand-horse-power steam engine ; and when the fatal 
wound is given, torrents of clotted blood are spat- 
tered into the air over the nauseated hunters. In 



86 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

conclusion, the right whale has an eye scarcely larger 
than a cow's, and an ear that would scarcely admit 
a knitting-needle." 

On May 12 the Catalpa had reached the 
" Western Ground," and two whales were killed. 
It was nearly midnight before they were taken 
alongside. 

On May 30, in lat. 37° 3' north, long. 57° 50' 
west, a brig in distress was raised to leeward, dis- 
masted and flying signals. She proved to be the 
brig Florence Annapolis, forty-nine days from Liv- 
erpool, bound to Nova Scotia with a cargo of salt. 
Water and provisions were gone and the crew was 
on the verge of starvation. When the mast went 
by the board, one of the crew had his leg broken 
and two others were injured. Captain Anthony 
supplied the vessel with water and small stores, and 
his crew assisted in rigging up two sails, with which 
the brig ultimately reached port in safety. 

Late on the afternoon of June 13 the first 
whale seen for a month was sighted. It was a 
smoky day, with a fresh breeze from the south. Mr. 
Smith, the mate, was in charge of one of the boats, 
which was lowered. The boatsteerer had thrown 
the iron, and Mr. Smith had taken his position at 
the head of the boat with the lance for the fatal 
stroke, when he was knocked overboard by the 
whale and severely cut about the head. He was 
pulled in by the crew, and crawled on his hands and 
knees to the head of the boat once more, where he 
killed the whale and fell back in a faint. Smith 



WHALING 87 

was brought aboard the bark, badly injured, and 
the whale was alongside at one A. m. The next 
morning Mr. Smith insisted upon attending to 
his duties and assisted in directing the cutting-in, 
although he was very weak from the loss of blood 
from the cuts on his head and neck. This little in- 
cident indicated to Captain Anthony that he had 
made no mistake in selecting Mr. Smith, and he felt 
sure that when the supreme test came he would 
have at least one man behind him upon whom he 
could rely to the uttermost. 

From that date until August nothing of particular 
interest occurred. Icebergs were seen in July, and 
the Kanaka boatsteerer died and was buried at sea, 
the service being read by Captain Anthony. 

Late in August the Catalpa fell in with the bark 
General Scott, Captain Eobbins, and '^ gammed," 
with her. The word ^^ gammed " is the whaling 
vernacular for keeping company. On the morning 
of the 27th a flat calm prevailed, when a large sperm 
whale was raised close to the ship. Three boats 
were lowered and this attracted the attention of the 
captain of the General Scott, who ordered his 
men to the boats. The fact that the whale spouted 
seventy times each time it came up indicated that 
it was of good size. Then the whale sounded and 
was down forty minutes. The boats from both 
ships were now in ardent chase, but when the whale 
came up he was nearer the Scott's boats. So the 
officers shouted and agreed to '^mate," or divide 
the whale. Mr. Smith of the Catalpa struck the 



88 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

whale, and all joined in the killing. Then, as the 
General Scott was so much larger than the Catalpa, 
the whale was taken alongside that vessel for boil- 
ing. It is a rule among whalemen that when two 
ships are mated, if either takes a whale before the 
first has been boiled, the ships again divide. So 
while the General Scott was trying out, the Catalpa 
cruised away, captured another whale, and at six 
o'clock the same night had it alongside. This lat- 
ter whale was small, making about forty-five barrels, 
which was divided. The larger whale '^stowed 
down " 130 barrels. 

On September 5 the Catalpa gammed with the 
bark Draco, Captain Peakes. Captain Anthony had 
sailed in the Draco for ten years of his life, and 
Captain Peakes was an old friend. On the 19th 
the Catalpa raised sperm whales and secured two. 
On October 14 Flores was sighted, and the captain 
now learned that through the fault of his chro- 
nometer he was 120 miles out of his "reckoning." 

Captain Peakes suggested to Captain Anthony 
that before going in he should catch up a deckload 
of albicores, which abounded, and as they are a 
choice edible he could trade them ofi" in the town 
for potatoes. The albicores follow ships in this 
locality, and were all about the vessel, breaching for 
flying-fish and squid. So with white rag for bait, 
the crew caught half a hundred fish weighing forty 
or fifty pounds each. 

Captain Anthony landed in his small boat and 
was at once placed under arrest by the custom- 



WHALING 89 

house authorities for smuggling. The fish, it seems, 
were regarded as a product of the Americari fisheries, 
and could not be landed without paying a duty. 
Moreover, Captain Anthony was informed that they 
were worthless. So he gave them away to a man 
on the dock, but this made no difference to the cus- 
toms authorities, who insisted that they must be re- 
turned to the vessel or pay the duty. The captain 
ordered a native to take them back to the ship or do 
anything he liked with the fish. He rowed around 
a point and landed the fish, but the island officials, 
having demonstrated their authority, released Cap- 
tain Anthony from arrest. 

The potatoes were placed aboard the vessel, when 
a heavy gale sprang up. Captain Anthony was 
ready to sail, but he had left his bill of health 
ashore, and he was forced to lay off and on in terri- 
ble weather before he could get back once more. 

On October 20 the Catalpa left the island for 
Fayal, and several days later, in a gale of wind, the 
vessel was worked up between Pico and Fayal and 
anchored off the town. The vessel had 210 bar- 
rels of sperm oil aboard, and for several days the 
crew was employed in breaking out the cargo and 
landing it to be shipped home. Then the casks of 
bread and flour were recoopered and the watches 
were given liberty on shore. Here the captain was 
rejoiced at getting letters from his family and a 
photograph of his daughter. 

Most of the crew, including third mate Bolles, one 
of the boatsteerers, and nearly all of the foremast 



90 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

hands, deserted, and three sailors who were sick 
were discharged. A runner agreed to furnish men, 
but it was necessary for them to be smuggled aboard 
the ship, since they had no passports. They were 
picked up by the Catalpa's boats under shadow of 
the fort, and, although hailed by the guard-boat, 
they were successful in reaching the vessel. One or 
two of the men who ran away were captured, and a 
crew was once more patched up. 

The chronometer again claimed attention. Al- 
though the captain had had it adjusted at Flores, in 
the short run to Fayal he found himself sixty miles 
out of the way in his reckoning. Here he met 
Captain Crapo of the bark Ospray, who had three 
chronometers, including one which had been in the 
bark Cornelia, condemned on the Pacific coast. 
Captain Anthony bought this for $110 and experi- 
enced much satisfaction in the belief that he now 
had an instrument which he could trust. 

These were busy days for the captain, for aside 
from the trouble with the crew, the fierce weather 
on the Western Ground had used up rigging and 
canvas, and he was compelled to buy a new outfit. 

On the sixth of November Captain Anthony 
made a hurried departure from Fayal. 



CHAPTEE XIII 

A HURRIED DEPARTURE 

The cause of the haste in leaving the island was 
a letter which Dennis Duggan, the ship's carpenter, 
received from Thomas Brennan. 

Duggan, it will he rememhered, was the only- 
Irishman on the Catalpa, since the leaders had 
agreed that the presence of a numher might arouse 
the suspicion of the British authorities when Aus- 
tralia was reached. Brennan had heen very urgent 
in his appeals to accompany the expedition when it 
left America, but permission was refused. He de- 
clined to accept the rebuff, however, and he deter- 
mined to stow away on the vessel before she sailed, 
but arrived at New Bedford a day too late. 

Nothing daunted, he shipped on a little schooner 
sailing for St. MichaePs, planning to join the Ca- 
talpa at Fayal. The letter which Duggan received 
announced that Brennan had taken passage on a 
steamer from St. MichaePs which was due to arrive 
the following day. 

Captain Anthony and Duggan had agreed never 
to converse on the subject, lest the suspicions of the 
officers might be excited ; but the carpenter promptly 
carried the letter to the captain. 



I 



92 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

^' I think we have all the crew we need at pres- 
ent," remarked Captain Anthony. " Mr. Brennan 
may get left." 

He hastened to the custom-house, cleared his 
vessel for Teneriffe in the Canary Islands, and at 
5.30 o'clock in the afternoon, in a drizzle of rain 
and a fresh breeze from the southwest, the moorings 
were slipped and the Catalpa was working out to 
windward between Pico and Fayal. 

As the vessel was heading out through the is- 
lands the next morning, the steamer on which 
Brennan was a passenger was seen at a distance, 
going in to Fayal and the captain bestowed a grim 
smile upon Duggan. Brennan saw the ship like- 
wise, but it will be seen that he did not falter in his 
purpose to join the Catalpa. 

And now a crisis had come in the affairs of the 
expedition. Captain Anthony knew that the decep- 
tion could not be kept much longer from his chief 
mate, Mr. Smith, and had planned for many months 
to make a confidant of him on the voyage from 
Fayal to Teneriffe. 

Thus far the vessel had proceeded according to 
the plans announced before starting. During the 
period which had elapsed, the Catalpa had pursued 
whaling with good success, but, as the reader knows, 
this avocation was only a cloak to the true purpose 
of the voyage. 

During the hard labor of the months which had 
passed, Captain Anthony had never forgotten for an 
instant the desperate work which was before him. 



A HURRIED DEPARTURE 93 

He thought of it by day and dreamed of it by night, 
yet he must continually be on the guard to keep his 
plans from his comrades in the cabin. 

He had explained as a reason for going to Ten- 
erifFe, that he contemplated whaling about the river 
Platte, and proposed to stop there for water. The 
water at Fayal was taken from wells near the shore 
and was brackish, while that at Tenerifife is much 
sought after by whalers. 

So far there was nothing to arouse a question 
upon the part of the chief officer. But after Ten- 
eriffe there was to be the long and dreary voyage 
around the Cape of Good Hope and across the In- 
dian Ocean, with no pretense of whaling. The 
officer must be admitted into the secret before Ten- 
eriffe was reached. If he refused to assist the en- 
terprise he must be landed there. He might very 
properly be indignant at being inveigled into such 
a voyage and give away the plan. 

Captain Anthony had decided that of all men 
Smith the mate was an officer among a thousand for 
such work. He was bold and adventure-loving. 
But his very impetuosity was dreaded by the cap- 
tain in the interview which was to come ; for whereas 
he might accept a part in the programme with en- 
thusiasm, he was perhaps as likely to be enraged at 
the deception practiced upon him. 

It was therefore with many misgivings that 
Captain Anthony asked him into the cabin one 
pleasant evening, when the vessel was a few days 
out from Fayal. Mr. Smith seemed to be in excep- 



94 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

tionally good spirits, and it was an opportunity which 
the captain had awaited for some time. The doors 
were closed, and at Anthony's invitation Smith sat 
down. 

It is not the fashion of sailors to make long 
stories, and Captain Anthony was as blunt and brief 
as if he were instructing his mate to put more sail 
on the ship. 

" Mr. Smith, you shipped to go whaling," com- 
menced the captain. ^' I want to say to you now, 
before we get to Teneriffe, that the Catalpa has 
done about all the whaling she will do this fall. 
We 're bound to the western coast of Australia to 
try and liberate six Fenian prisoners who are serv- 
ing a life sentence in Great Britain's penal colony. 
This ship was bought for that purpose and fitted for 
that purpose, and you have been utterly deceived in 
the object of this voyage. You have a right to be 
indignant and leave the vessel at Teneriffe. You 
will have the opportunity when we arrive there, and 
if you go I can't blame you. 

" But this ship is going to Australia, if I live, 
and I hope you will stay by me and go with me. 
God knows I need you, and I give you my word I 
will stand by you as never one man stood by an- 
other, if you will say you will remain in the ship 
and assist me in carrying out the plans." 

Mr. Smith's face, at this announcement, was a 
picture of surprise which the captain will never for- 
get. After a moment, the mate asked a few ques- 
tions about the prisoners to be rescued, the plan, 




SAMUEL P. SMITH 
First Mate of the Catalpa 



A HURRIED DEPARTURE 95 

and the men behind it, and Captain Anthony assured 
him that if any trouble came he would exonerate 
him completely from the conspiracy and would pro- 
claim that he shipped to go whaling. Then Mr. 
Smith sat silent for a few minutes. 

The reply which came is not the polite language 
of the parlor, but it was very satisfactory to Captain 
Anthony, and was couched in language which 
could not have been made more expressive of Mr. 
Smith's purpose. He arose and took the captain 
by the hand. 

"Captain Anthony," said he, ^' I '11 stick by you 
in this ship if she goes to hell and burns off her 
jibboom." 

This undoubtedly struck the captain at that mo- 
ment as the quintessence of eloquence, and you may 
be sure the hand of Mr. Smith, which was placed 
in his, was shaken with a heartiness which told the 
story of his joy. 

The two men talked long together. Smith had 
wondered at the interest of the strange men, Devoy 
and Eeynolds, who had visited the ship during her 
fitting, and he never had been able to understand 
how it was expected the vessel could go to the 
Kiver Platte and return in eighteen months ; but 
otherwise his curiosity had never led him to suspect 
that he was not in the entire confidence of the cap- 
tain. Captain Anthony was in a happier frame of 
mind when he went to his stateroom than he had 
experienced for many months. 



CHAPTEE Xiy 

AN AWKWARD MEETING 

The peak of Teneriffe, 12,182 feet high, can he 
seen ninety miles on a clear day. Captain Anthony 
had seen it as far hy accurate ohservation. Trust- 
ing in the correctness of his new chronometer, he 
expected to raise the land dead ahead. He was 
therefore surprised, one afternoon, when he raised 
the peak sixty or seventy miles on his weather 
quarter. Captain Anthony ordered the vessel hauled 
sharp by the wind, and by a fortunate change was 
able to head up so that he arrived off the port the 
following evening, November 20. The new chro- 
nometer was no longer to be implicitly trusted. 

The bark was at once boarded by the custom- 
house officials, who wished to see the bill of health. 
Captain Anthony passed out the health papers certi- 
fied to by the Spanish consul. There had been so 
many changes in the crew at Tayal and the start 
was made so hurriedly that the number of men was 
erroneously given as twenty-five. The officials 
ordered the captain to call all hands to the rail, 
which was done, and only twenty-two men were 
mustered. Then the captain was asked to account 
for the other three men, but was unable to do so, 



AN AWKWAED MEETING 97 

and he was asked if he had not made way with 
them, -which he, of course, strenuously denied. 

Then the officer demanded the log-book, ship's 
papers, crew lists, and certificates of discharges and 
desertions, and, failing to find any accounting for the 
three men, announced that he should detain the 
vessel until an explanation was forthcoming. But 
after profuse apologies and explanations on the part 
of the captain, the officer finally agreed to permit 
the vessel to enter. 

Captain Anthony went ashore, saw the consul, 
and made arrangements for taking water aboard. 
He dared not give the crew shore liberty, lest they 
might run away. The consul advised him to ship 
the men taken aboard at Fayal regularly, but as the 
men might refuse to return if they landed at Tener- 
iffe, on the ground that they did not belong to the 
vessel, he consented to go aboard the Catalpa, and 
the men were accordingly shipped aboard the bark. 

An American schooner from New Haven was in 
port, and Captain Anthony took his chronometer 
aboard. For three days he was engaged in taking 
sights and fixing the rate, which had been given in- 
correctly, he found. Captain Anthony was now 
bound across the Indian Ocean, and as he knew that 
this was the last land he would see for many weeks 
or months, he was very particular about the work. 

A quantity of lumber, boards and joist, were 
taken aboard here, to build quarters for the guests 
whom the captain expected to take aboard at Aus- 
tralia. The explanation was vouchsafed to the crew 



98 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

that the big spruce boards and joist were for mend- 
ing the boats ; but notwithstanding the absurdity, it 
was perfectly satisfactory to the men. The captain 
had drawn $1,000 on the owners at Fayal for refit- 
ting, and he spent $300 additional at Teneriffe. 

On November 25 the Catalpa sailed from Tener- 
iffe, clearing for " River La Platte and other places." 
The vessel was now in ship-shape order, and was 
bound for Australia as straight as she could be sent. 

Still the deception of whaling must be kept up 
with the crew, and a man was always kept on the 
lookout at masthead. For several weeks light 
breezes prevailed, and nothing occurred to break the 
monotony. On December 19 three small whales 
were taken, making about forty barrels of oil. Then 
there was a short season of baffling winds and squally 
weather, but about the 24th the trade winds struck 
on. The Catalpa crossed the equator in longitude 
27° on Christmas night. The prevailing winds had 
been to the southward, and the vessel had sailed on 
the port tack for so long a time that she must have 
been close in upon Cape St. Bourke. No land was 
sighted, however, and it must have been passed in 
the night. 

Then for a period of two months the voyage was 
monotonous enough. Light breezes prevailed and 
considerable of the time was spent in repairing sails. 
Finback whales were sighted and occasionally the 
boats were lowered, but the pursuit was without 
success. 

On the night of Friday, February 11, the vessel 



AN AWKWARD MEETING 99 

was in lat. 41° 11', long. 17° 58', when a heavy gale 
from the S. S. W. commenced. At daylight the hark 
was under two lower topsails and foresail, steering 
S. E. by E. The cross sea on this occasion was 
the most treacherous and menacing which Captain 
Anthony had ever experienced. The combers, com- 
ing in opposite directions, came together with re- 
ports like a clap of thunder, and the danger of a sea 
striking the deck was looked upon with no little 
apprehension. As the gale and sea increased the 
Catalpa hove to under the two lower topsails and 
mizzen staysail. Suddenly, to Captain Anthony's 
consternation, the lower foretopsail split and tore in 
shreds. Now, before leaving port the captain had 
been warned never to take in the topsails in heavy 
weather lest the vessel should thrash herself in 
pieces. The vessel was flat-bottomed and shallow 
and required sail to prevent her from rolling to 
windward and shipping seas, which might be her de- 
struction, he was told, and in corroboration of this 
he knew that when the topsails were taken in in a 
hurricane off Cape Horn, on a previous voyage, a sea 
boarded the Catalpa, sweeping everything from the 
deck, breaking the mate's leg, and doing serious dam- 
age to the vessel. 

" Now look out for trouble ! " shouted Captain 
Anthony to Mr. Smith, as the very catastrophe which 
was dreaded happened. But to the captain's sur- 
prise the Catalpa came up into the wind and sea 
and lay like a duck, rising and settling in the surges 
with a graceful, buoyant swell. 



100 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

At three o'clock on the afternoon of the storm a 
vessel was sighted on the other tack with nothing set 
but the main spencer and foretopmast staysail. She 
rolled until her keel was almost in sight, and Cap- 
tain Anthony not only recognized her as a whale- 
ship, but from the brightness of the copper on the 
vessel's bottom, which was exposed as she reeled in 
the great seas, he knew that she had left home but 
recently. But Captain Anthony realized that his 
presence in this locality would be difficult to explain 
to a whaling captain who knew that he had sailed 
ostensibly on a short voyage in the Atlantic, and he 
heroically determined to forego his inclination to 
hear the latest news from home. The little bark 
wore around and, came on the same tack with the 
Catalpa, but she was soon left far astern. 

At midnight, however, the wind died out, and the 
next day the little bark was in sight. The weather 
was genial, the sun glowing, and to all appearances 
there never blew a gale over so placid a sea. Cap- 
tain Anthony decided to speak the vessel. So he 
hauled aback, and when the stranger came up, low- 
ered a boat and boarded her. She proved to be 
the Platina of New Bedford. Captain Walter How- 
land, who commanded her, was an intimate friend, 
but Captain Anthony was not so well pleased at the 
meeting as he might have been under other circum- 
stances. The Platina was four months out from 
home and had fifty barrels of oil. 

" What under heavens are you doing here, An- 
thony," said Captain Howland. ^^ You 're the last 



AN AWKWARD MEETING 101 

man I expected to see out here. I thought you in- 
tended to make a short voyage in the JSTorth At- 
lantic." 

Captain Anthony said he had concluded to go 
farther, and inquired of Captain Howland where he 
proposed to go. The latter said he was bound for 
the Seychelles Islands and through the Mozambique 
Channel. Captain Anthony evinced much interest 
in this plan, and the Platina's master got out his 
charts and gave the captain considerable information 
about the locality, Captain Anthony taking copious 
notes the while. Captain Anthony told Captain 
Howland that he might bring up on the whaling 
ground which was his destination. 

Then Captain Howland gave his old friend the 
news from home, but it was quite evident that he 
was suspicious of Captain Anthony's presence in 
this part of the world, for several times he stopped 
short, and repeated, " Say now, honest, what are you 
doing here ? " 

" Where are you going to refit ? '^ he asked at 
another time. Captain Anthony evaded answering 
this question by asking Captain Howland where 
he proposed to refit, and entered the information he 
received in his notebook. 

Meanwhile Mr. Farnham, the second mate, and the 
boat's crew from the Catalpa were mingling with 
the Platina's crew, and learned for the first time 
that the vessel was not ofi" the coast of Patagonia, 
bound for the Kiver La Platte, but nearer the Cape 
of Good Hope and headed for the Indian Ocean. 



102 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

'^ I tot we long time getting that Biver Platte," 
Captain Anthony heard the Portuguese mate saying 
to the men. " I tink maybe old man go to New 
Zealand catch whales. I there once. I tink nice 
place." 

Late in the day Captain Anthony said good-by 
to Captain Howland and returned to the Catalpa. 
The wind breezed up, main royals were set, and on- 
ward the vessel bowled. The Platina was in sight 
for three days, when she disappeared from the 
Catalpa' s horizon. 



CHAPTEE XV 

A STRANGE EPISODE 

!N"oTHiNG stranger ever happened on land or sea 
than the circumstance whereby Captain Anthony- 
came into possession of the charts used on the con- 
vict ship Hougoumont, which were subsequently 
employed to frustrate the plans of the government 
which first provided them. 

A large English bark was signalized on the 16th 
of February in lat. 39° 46' S., long. 31° 54' E. It 
was a beautiful morning, and Captain Anthony con- 
cluded to board her and see if he could procure a 
detailed chart of the Australian coast, which he was 
now rapidly approaching. 

The vessel proved to be the Ocean Beauty, sev- 
enty days from Liverpool and bound for New Zea- 
land. The captain was a big, convivial Englishman, 
full of jolly stories which he loved to tell. Cap- 
tain Anthony spent a pleasant hour in his cabin and 
finally asked him if he had made many voyages in 
this direction. 

" Been making them out here all my life,'' he 
said. " Why, I was master of a convict ship, the 
Hougoumont, and carried a shipful of prisoners to 
Australia in 1868," 



104 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The name ^' Hougoumont " seemed familiar to 
Captain Anthony. Suddenly it flashed upon his 
mind that this was the vessel which Devoy had 
named as taking the Fenian prisoners whom he was 
bound to rescue out to the colony. The meeting 
at this time, and the reminder, unnerved the cap- 
tain for a moment and if the Englishman had been 
observant he might have suspected from his conduct 
that the mention of the name of the vessel created 
an unexpected sensation. 

But the suggestion started the captain of the 
Ocean Beauty to relate reminiscences of life on 
the convict ship. He told Captain Anthony of 
John Boyle O'E-eilly. ^^ You may have heard of 
him," he said, '' for he escaped in one of your whale- 
ships." He recalled the publication of a paper by 
O'Keilly on the Hougoumont called ^' The Wild 
Goose," so named because the soldiers of Sarsfield, 
who entered the service in foreign armies upon the 
failure of their effort for liberty, were called ^^ The 
Wild Geese." It was published weekly, Father 
Delaney, the ship's chaplain, furnishing O'Reilly 
with the paper and writing materials. John Flood, 
Dennis B. Cashman, and J. Edward O'Kelly were 
editors, with CReilly, and Cashman wrote an orna- 
mental heading entwined with shamrocks, and the 
sub-heads as well. It was published on Saturdays, 
and O'Reilly read it to the company between decks 
on Sundays. In this publication his narrative poem 
" The Flying Dutchman," written off the Cape of 
Good Hope, first appeared. 



A STRANGE EPISODE 105 

" We published seven weekly numbers of it," 
O'E-eilly has written. '^ Amid the dim glare of the 
lamp the men, at night, would group strangely on 
extemporized seats, the yellow light full on the 
pale faces of the men as they listened with blazing 
eyes to Davis's ^ Fontenpy,' or the ' Clansmen's Wild 
Address to Shane's Head ! ' Ah, that is another of 
the grand picture memories that come only to those 
who deal with life's stern realities ! " 

The Englishman's reference to Australia opened 
the way for Captain Anthony to inquire the possi- 
bilities of the place for refitting and taking aboard 
fresh provisions. The Englishman advised it, say- 
ing that it was a cheap place to recruit ship. 

" Have you a sheet chart of the coast you could 
spare me ? " asked Captain Anthony finally. 

" Lots of them. Here 's the roll I used when I 
was master of the Hougoumont. Help yourself. 
You 're welcome to any you want." 

The Englishman handed out a bulky roll, and 
Captain Anthony selected a chart of the western 
coast of Australia on a large scale, showing the sur- 
vey about Swan Eiver, Ereemantle, Bunbury, E-ott- 
nest Island and lighthouse. 

Then, as the wind was strengthening, Captain 
Anthony arose to go. The Englishman bid him 
*^ God speed," and the men parted. 

Upon reaching the Catalpa, Captain Anthony 
went down into the cabin, chuckling in great glee. 

"What's happened? " asked Mr. Smith. 

" Why," said the captain, " would you believe 



106 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

it ? I Ve just been given the very chart which vTas 
used by the captain of the Hougoumont to land the 
prisoners we 're after, at Freemantle. The captain 
little thought it was to be used in taking a ship 
there to rescue the same men." 

The hilarity over this circumstance kept the two 
men in good humor for a long time. 



CHAPTER XVI 

ARRIVAL AT AUSTRALIA 

For eleven days, from February 29 to March 10, 
the vessel lay to most of the time under lower top- 
sails and staysails, in a heavy and prolonged gale 
from the S. S. E., dead ahead. It rained, and the 
days were anxious and dreary to the captain. When 
an observation was finally taken it was found that 
in this period the vessel had made only 60 miles 
progress south and 120 miles east. Such a storm 
from the east is very unusual in this latitude. 

But at last strong, fair winds from the west and 
southwest set in and the Catalpa sailed like a race- 
horse. On March 15 the island of St. Paul in lat. 
38° 25' S. and long. 78° 28' E. was raised. Whale- 
men always like to stop at St. Paul for the fishing. 
Captain Anthony had been there a number of times, 
and with a crude apparatus had often taken a boat- 
load of crawfish in a few hours. A large iron hoop 
is used, interwoven with spun yarn, and baited. 
Other varieties of fish can be caught with hook, 
line, and pork bait. 

Sail was shortened and lines were prepared for 
fishing. Small boats were lowered and, upon row- 
ing in near the shore, the kelp, which abounded, was 



108 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

hauled over the bow of the boat and served as an 
anchor. The Catalpa ran around under the lee of 
the island, which by the way has a peak 820 feet in 
height, when a westerly gale came on, commencing 
with heavy squalls. 

The sea was ugly and the fishing expedition was 
abandoned. With all sail set, the Catalpa made fine 
progress that day. Great seas struck her stern and 
followed over the leading boards, but the vessel was 
already due at Australia and Captain Anthony de- 
termined to crowd her henceforth. 

After leaving St. Paul the crew was satisfied that 
the bark was going to 'New Zealand, and of course 
they were not enlightened. Fair wind in plenty 
favored the vessel and she was driven hard, some 
days making 200 miles, until on March 27 the high 
land of Cape Naturaliste on the Australian coast 
was sighted. The crew was now certain that this 
was New Zealand, and Mr. Farnham, the second 
mate, said he recognized the promontory. 

The chains were soon bent on the anchors, and at 
night the vessel was anchored in the shoal water of 
Geographe Bay. At five o'clock the next morning 
the Catalpa was once more under way, and at ten 
o'clock reached anchorage ojQf Bunbury harbor, at 
the head of the bay. 

So after nearly a year at sea, a year of worry and 
hard work, the rendezvous was reached. It brought 
little exaltation to Captain Anthony, for he knew 
that the crisis was at hand which would be the 
supreme test of his courage. 



ARRIVAL AT AUSTRALIA 109 

During these closing days he had said but little 
to his only confidant, Mr. Smith, but his mind had 
been busy with disconcerting thoughts. Whom 
would he meet? Might not the conspirators have 
failed in carrying out the land end of the plot ? 
Possibly the plan had been discovered and the au- 
thorities were awaiting his arrival on shore to take 
him in custody and seize the vessel. The long de- 
lay had been a long torture for a man of Captain 
Anthony's activity, and he welcomed the develop- 
ments which awaited him on shore. 



II 



CHAPTEE XVII 

THE LAND END OF THE CONSPIRACY 

For many weary months the reader has followed 
the fortunes of the expedition by sea. It was at 
this point that Captain Anthony's solicitude concern- 
ing the success of the conspiracy on land became 
intense ; so here seems a proper place to commence 
the recitation of another part of the story. 

And here we meet a man of whom it has been 
said that there is no more romantic figure in the 
stormy history of modern Ireland. John J. Breslin 
was selected to go to Australia and manage the land 
end of the rescue. 

Mr. Breslin was already a famous hero, and his 
burning love of country, his chivalry and his bravery, 
were written in the hearts of Erin's sons and daugh- 
ters. He is described by one writer as ^' a tall, 
courtly man, whose classical features, flowing white 
beard, and military bearing, made him a striking per- 
sonage wherever he went. 

" His history reads like a chapter from the days 
of good King Arthur. His name will, in time to 
come, start wonderful echoes among the thousand 
hills of Ireland." 

His bold and adroit rescue of James Stephens, the 



THE LAND END OF THE CONSPIRACY 111 

head centre of the Fenian movement in Ireland, 
while the government was gloating over his capture, 
startled the nations in 1865. Mr. Breslin was born 
in Drogheda in 1835. His father was a County 
Tyrone man and subsequently removed to Leinster. 
John received a good national school education and 
was always studious and an undefatigable reader. 
Although he ever upheld the views of the Nation- 
alists, he had no connection with any organization 
until 1865, when Stephens's reply to the magis- 
trates after his arrest confirmed him in the national 
faith. 

Stephens had been engaged with the Irish patri- 
ots. Smith and O'Brien, in 1848, and escaped to 
Paris after the miserable failure of the insurrection 
at Ballingarry. For five years he plotted by corre- 
spondence, and then the little coterie of exiles drew 
lots to see which should return to Ireland to organ- 
ize the new conspiracy. Stephens was selected, and 
he made a house-to-house canvass of the Emerald 
Isle, walking over 3,500 miles, reconnoitring the 
strongholds of Ireland, sometimes disguised as a 
priest, sometimes as a beggar, and associating with 
the people in their cabins and farmhouses. 

Meanwhile tireless and faithful friends of Ireland 
in America were working with similar purpose, and 
the result was the organization known as ^'The 
Irish Republican Brotherhood," or ^^ Fenians." 
More than a million Irishmen in America, and half 
that number in Ireland, were enrolled. At the 
head of the vast conspiracy was James Stephens. 



112 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The aim of the Fenian organization was the forma- 
tion of an army to cope with the army of England. 

When the organization grew formidable, England 
determined to suppress the brotherhood in Ireland, 
and through treachery and the employment of spies 
the British government at length learned that Ste- 
phens was the "head centre;'' but so manifold were 
his disguises that the police were baffled for a long 
time. 

During his wanderings Stephens had married a 
beautiful Tipperary girl. She was identified as 
Mrs. Stephens while at the head of the household of 
a gentleman living in the suburbs of Dublin, whose 
name was presumed to be Herbert. The house was 
surrounded one night and " Herbert," who proved 
to be Stephens, was captured as he slept. 

There was much rejoicing in England at the cap- 
ture, and Stephens was consigned to the Richmond 
bridewell, one of the strongest prisons in Ireland. 
The ponderous iron door of his cell was secured with 
bars, and it was on a corridor which was guarded by 
a second iron door, double locked. There he was 
shut in and extraordinary precautions taken to pre- 
vent his escape. 

Mr. Breslin was at that time superintendent of 
the prison hospital. One night he opened the door 
of Stephens's cell with a false key, placed a loaded 
revolver in the fallen leader's hand, and led him 
forth to freedom. Guards, heavily armed, were 
everywhere, but they were eluded, and Stephens 
once more escaped to France. 




JOHN J. BRESLIN 

Who managed the land end of the Rescue 



THE LAND END OF THE CONSPIRACY 113 

The escape amazed England. It was long before 
suspicion fastened upon Breslin. Then he came to 
America, and was for a while a railway freight agent 
in Boston. Here he worked for a time, making few 
acquaintances. "Few knew him/' said O'Eeilly, 
" and to few were shown the culture and refinement 
behind the modest exterior. In thought and ap- 
pearance eminently a gentleman ; in demeanor dig- 
nified and reserved ; in observance, rather distrust- 
ful, as if disappointed in his ideal man ; somewhat 
cynical, perhaps, and often stubbornly prejudiced 
and unjust ; a lover of and a successful worker in 
literature, — such is an outline of a character that 
may indeed be called extraordinary." 

In America Mr. Breslin soon became a powerful 
spirit in the Clan-na-Gael, and the proposed expe- 
dition to rescue the political prisoners in Australia 
was work for which his bold spirit hungered and 
thirsted. His selection as the manager of the land 
end of the rescue was equally as fortunate as that 
of his co-worker, Captain Anthony. 

His associate was Captain Thomas Desmond, a 
Nationalist from the time he could stand alone. 
Captain Desmond was born in Queenstown, but came 
to this country in early childhood and was living in 
Los Angeles, California, at this time. 

Messrs. Breslin and Desmond sailed from San 
Francisco for Australia in September, 1875. There 
they were to meet John King, a Dublin man, who 
had lived in New South Wales for several years, 
and who had collected about $3,500 for the rescue 
project. 



114 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Upon their arrival at Freemantle, Australia, in 
November, the men separated and became ostensible 
strangers. Mr. Breslin assumed the name of J. Col- 
lins, and posed as a man of wealth seeking invest- 
ments. His dignity and grace of manner enabled him 
to carry out the role with success, and it was not long 
before he became a universal favorite. The gov- 
ernor was attracted by the charm of his manner, and 
frequently entertained him. 

After visiting Perth, Mr. Breslin concluded that 
he would make Freemantle his headquarters, and 
established himself at the Emerald Isle Hotel. Des- 
mond went on to Perth and found employment at 
his trade of carriage-making. 

Presently Mr. Breslin made the acquaintance of 
William Foley, a Fenian who had once been a pris- 
oner, and through him notified James "Wilson of his 
arrival and arranged for further communications. 
On one occasion Mr. Breslin was invited to inspect 
the prison, "The Establishment,'^ as they call it 
in the colony, and he was conducted through it by 
the superintendent, Mr. Donan. 

The Fenian prisoners were working on the roads 
by day, and after much difficulty Mr. Breslin suc- 
ceeded in talking over his plans with Wilson. 
Then, inasmuch as the Catalpa was not expected 
before the last of January, to avoid suspicion he 
took a trip inland, visiting Perth, Guildford, York, 
Northam, Newcastle, and various smaller villages. 

Then followed dull weeks of anxious waiting. 
About $4,000 in money was brought by King, who 



THE LAND END OF THE CONSPIEACY 115 

passed as a gold miner, contributed by New Zealand 
sympathizers, which proved timely at this crisis. 
Two other agents of the revolutionary organization. 
in Ireland, Denis F. McCarthy of Cork, and John 
Durham, also appeared on the scene and volunteered 
their assistance. They assumed the duty of cutting 
the telegraph wires after the escape should be 
effected. 

The prisoners were frequently shifted around, 
communication with them was often difficult, and 
Mr. Breslin was as nearly distracted as a cool-headed 
man could be. In March, the whaling bark Canton 
was reported at Bunbury, and Mr. Breslin tele- 
graphed the master to know if he had any news of 
the Catalpa of New Bedford. He replied that he 
knew nothing of her. 

Mr. Breslin determined to go to Bunbury, and on 
the 6th of March left for the town. There was no 
news, and he returned to Freemantle in a small 
coasting vessel called the May. 

At length, on the 29th of March, at 6.30 in the 
morning, there was posted on the bulletin board at 
the telegraph office at Freemantle the announce- 
ment of the arrival of the Catalpa at Bunbury. 



CHAPTEE XVIII 

MEETING OF ANTHONY AND BRESLIN 

The morning after the arrival of the Catalpa at 
Bunbury was bright and beautiful. Captain An- 
thony ordered a crew of picked men into one of 
the boats, for he dared not trust some of his sailors 
ashore, fearing they would desert the ship, and 
landed on the jetty. Then the boat returned, and 
the captain walked toward the town. 

He was on the alert for recognition, and wan- 
dered about the old town all day, momentarily 
expecting and hoping that some fellow-conspirator 
would reveal himself. He returned to the ship at 
night, disappointed and anxious. Captain Anthony 
and Mr. Smith had a serious consultation, and agreed 
that there was nothing to do but to wait. 

The next morning Captain Anthony again went 
ashore. At the head of the jetty a boy approached 
and asked if he was Captain Anthony. Upon re- 
ceiving an affirmative reply, the lad handed the 
captain a telegram. It read as follows : — 

Electric Telegraph, Western Australia, 
Bunbury, 29th March, 1876. 

Time, 10.40 A. M. 
Bv B. W. 

The following telegram received here from Freemantle Station. 
Subject to the regulations and conditions printed on the other 
side : — 



MEETING OF ANTHONY AND BRESLIN 117 

To Captain Anthony : — 

Have you any news from New Bedford ? When 
can you come to Freemantle ? 

J. Collins. 

The captain was straightway relieved of a ton of 
care. Now he knew that there were friends in this 
remote land who were to share the great responsi- 
bility. He went to the telegraph office and wired 
to Collins : — 

No news from New Bedford. Shall not come 
to Freemantle. 

G. S. Anthony. 

Captain Anthony engaged rooms at the local hotel 
and prepared to await developments. He had bought 
fresh meat for the ship of a marketman named David 
Hay, who told him much of an American gentleman 
of great wealth who was prospecting in the locality. 
Suspecting he might be the confederate who Avas to 
meet him, Captain Anthony looked up Hay, who 
presently alluded once more to the American, de- 
claring he was the finest man he ever met. 

^' What is his name ? " asked Anthony. 

^^Mr. Collins," replied Hay. 

At four o'clock the next afternoon, when the 
mail-coach from Freemantle rolled into Bunbury, 
Captain Anthony was at Hay's store. 

" Why, there 's the very man I was telling you 
about ! " ejaculated Hay, as he looked up. " Come 
up to Spencer's Hotel and I '11 introduce you." 

The men walked up to the hotel and asked for 



118 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Collins. He came down from his room in a few 
minutes, and the introduction followed. The meet- 
ing had taken place in the most natural manner 
possible, and without giving cause for suspicion that 
the men were meeting by appointment. 

Collins wore a light suit. He was a magnificent 
fellow, and he charmed Captain Anthony, as he 
charmed all men with whom he came in contact. 
The captain remained to supper with his new friend, 
but not a word of the rescue was uttered at this 
time. After supper, Collins ordered cigars and in- 
vited Captain Anthony to take a walk. If was now 
after sundown, and the men walked out on the jetty 
in the darkness. The jetty was a long pile wharf, 
with a sentry house at the head, w^here an officer is 
constantly on guard to prevent smuggling. When 
they had walked a safe distance down the jetty, 
Breslin turned, grasped the captain's hands with a 
hearty " How are you ? '' 

Then he told the captain of his fears, consequent 
upon the tardiness of the vessel in arriving, and then 
quickly outlined the plan. The prisoners, he said, 
were working on the road under a strong guard all 
day, and were locked in prison cells at night. Plans 
were to be devised by which the men were to escape 
and reach the coast at a place called Kockingham, 
about twenty miles south of Freemantle. There 
Captain Anthony was to meet them with a whale- 
boat and take them aboard his ship, which was to 
lie a dozen miles off the coast, where it would at- 
tract no attention. In order that Captain Anthony 



MEETING OF ANTHONY AND BRESLIN 119 

might become thoroughly acquainted with the lo- 
cality, Breslin proposed that he should return to 
Freemantle with him on the colonial mail steamer 
Georgette, which was to leave Bun bury the next 
day, April 1. Then the captain might study the 
coast and see the spot where the men were to be 
embarked, if the plans worked well. The rescue 
was to be attempted on Thursday, April 6. 

Then the men walked back to the hotel and 
retired. The following morning Captain Anthony 
took Mr. Breslin aboard the Catalpa and introduced 
him to Mr. Smith. Then they went ashore to go 
aboard the Georgette. 

As they walked up the jetty their surprise was 
overwhelming when they saw Thomas Brennan 
coming toward them. 

Brennan's indefatigable determination to join the 
expedition had at length succeeded. When he ar- 
rived at St. Michael's as the Catalpa sailed out, he 
was by no means disconcerted. He then resolved 
to go to London and take a steamer for Australia. 

Brennan offered the captain of the Selbourne, a 
fruit steamer, fifty pounds to take him to Liverpool ; 
but the proposition was rejected, and he stowed him- 
self away with several other men. When the ship 
was at sea, the men presented themselves to the cap- 
tain, who made them prisoners, believing they were 
criminals fleeing from punishment for crimes com- 
mitted on the island. He declared he would deliver 
them to the Liverpool authorities. 

This was serious for Brennan. He had a large 



120 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

sum of money about him which would render him 
liable to suspicion, and he could not afford to be 
delayed. When Liverpool was reached the captain 
signaled for the police, whereupon Brennan jumped 
overboard and started for the shore. When nearly 
exhausted he was picked up by a rowboat and landed. 
Then he proceeded to London and took a steamer 
for Australia. 

Ill-luck pursued him, for when the steamer reached 
King George's Sound she was quarantined on ac- 
count of smallpox, which was raging. And the next 
day the Georgette was to sail for Bunbury, where he 
suspected the Catalpa might be. If he missed her, 
he would be detained another month. He made his 
escape and secured passage on the Georgette. 

It must be admitted that neither Breslin nor 
Anthony were overjoyed at the meeting. They 
already had all the assistance they needed, and each 
addition to the party only increased the chances of 
arousing suspicion. But Brennan was here, and 
there was nothing to do but take him along to 
Freemantle. 

It was agreed that Captain Anthony was to be 
introduced as the guest of '' Mr. Collins " on the 
steamer. Brennan was to be a stranger. Captain 
Anthony at once commenced to cultivate the friend- 
ship of Captain 0' Grady of the Georgette. The 
latter had sailed out of New York and was inter- 
ested in the American. Captain Anthony was with 
him in the pilot-house throughout the trip, and se- 
cured an acquaintance with the coast, the courses, 



MEETING OF ANTHONY AND BRESLIN 121 

and bearings. He gave particular attention to the 
coast outside E,ockingham and the positions of Kott- 
nest and Garden islands. 

At noon the next day Freemantle was reached. 
High over the town the stone prison in which the 
prisoners were confined at night stood like a senti- 
nel, and reminded Captain Anthony that his task 
was no trifling one. But there was a suggestion 
more grim in the discovery of one of Her Britan- 
nic Majesty's gunboats, the Conflict, anchored in the 
harbor. She was a schooner-rigged vessel, carrying 
two guns and thirty men, and the captain saw by 
her lines that she must be a fast sailer. 

The appearance of the gunboat was unexpected, 
and Captain Anthony and Mr. Breslin exchanged 
significant glances as they saw her. It was Sunday 
morning when they landed, and they went to the 
Emerald Isle Hotel, where Captain Anthony was 
introduced to his fellow-conspirators, John King 
and Captain Desmond. The latter was working as a 
wheelwright at Perth and posed as a Yankee. He 
kept up his assumed identity by a liberal use of the. 
vernacular of the Vermont farmer. From the latter 
it was learned that the gunboat had come to Free- 
mantle on an annual visit, and might remain for a 
week or ten days, then proceeding to Adelaide and 
Sidney ; also, that another gunboat was expected to 
call at Freemantle and take Governor Bobinson to 
visit the northwest coast. 



CHAPTER XIX 

ARRANGING THE DETAILS 

In the afternoon Mr. Breslin brought around a 
trap to drive over the road to E-ockinghanij where 
the men were to embark in the whaleboat for the 
ship, if the escape was successful. For ten miles 
the drive was over the hard macadamized road built 
by the prisoners and called the Fenian road. With 
a pair of horses and four men in the trap, this dis- 
tance was accomplished in forty minutes, and the 
test was very satisfactory. Then a sandy, heavy 
road was encountered for a distance of seven miles, 
which merged into a mere track winding through 
the " black boys," as the trees are called, the bush, 
and the sand to E,ockingham Hotel. The latter 
stretch was about four miles, and the total distance 
was made in two hours and twenty minutes. 

Here a hard, sandy beach was discovered. Gar- 
den Island, a long, low stretch of land covered with 
tall grass and bush, makes out from a point and 
extends nearly to Freemantle, forming Cockburn's 
Sound, a sheltered inlet. At the north end of the 
island is a narrow passage between the island and 
Cape Peron, a point on the mainland. Here the 
men alighted. 



ARKANGING THE DETAILS 123 

"Now, this is the place/' said Mr. Breslin, 
" where we propose to bring the men, and where 
we expect you to meet us with a boat." 

Captain Anthony stuck up an old piece of joist 
or rail in the sand above high-water mark. 

" Let it be understood that this is the place where 
I will meet you with my boat if God spares my 
life," said the captain. 

The four men then drove back to the hotel at 
Rockingham, where they rested, for the day had 
been intensely hot, and men and horses were thor- 
oughly fatigued. That evening they arranged a 
code of cipher for telegraphing. Breslin was to 
notify Captain Anthony at Bunbury when the gun- 
boat left Freemantle, and the captain was to tele- 
graph back the hour of sailing. Forty-eight hours 
from the time when the telegram was sent. Captain 
Anthony was to have the Catalpa off the coast at 
Rockingham and his boat on the beach. 

This was leaving much to chance, of course. 
Rockingham was a hundred miles from Bunbury, 
and head winds, bad weather, or calms might pre- 
vent the Catalpa from covering the distance within 
that time. But it was indeed a desperate undertak- 
ing ; the men had resolved to take desperate chances 
■ and trust the luck which had thus far attended the 
expedition. 

The telegraphic code was arranged as follows : 
When the gunboat sailed, Breslin was to send the 
message, " Your friend (N. or S. meaning north or 
south) has gone home. When do you sail ? " This 



124 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

meant, " The gunboat has sailed north or south. 
All right. Start from Bunbury." In case the 
gunboat arrived to take the governor to the north- 
west coast, Breslin was to wire " Jones is going 
overland to Champion Bay. When do you clear 
out of Bunbury ? " And when the coast was again 
clear, " Jones has gone to Champion Bay ; did not 
receive a letter from you," meaning, " All right 
again." 

On Monday, Captain Anthony was invited to go 
with his friends and a party of merchants in the 
colony to Perth, the residence of the governor. The 
company assembled at one of the hotels, and previ- 
ous to the dinner were entertained by the songs of 
a Western Australian shepherd. A copy of the 
verses of one of the selections, describing one of 
the unique sports of the colony, was given the cap- 
tain at his request. These are the lines : — 

"I 'm an odd thinking man, 

And will get on if I can, — 
I 'm only a shepherd, 'tis true; 

I find sport with my gun 
Whilst out on the run, 

In hunting the kangaroo ! 

" Some folks talk of the fox, 

Ride through heather and box, 
Hounds, steeds, and their hunting crew; 

That is all very well, 
But no sport can excel 

The chase of the kangaroo. 

"If I put up a doe. 

Oft her offspring she '11 throw 
From the pouch in her breast, 't is true ; 
And now for the fun, — 




< 

H 
< 

hJ 

Eh 

f^ 

fa 

fa 
O 

G 
H 

W 



ARRANGING THE DETAILS 125 

For I don't use my gun, — 
But run down the young kangaroo. 

" Whilst my dogs on the scent 

Of killing intent, 
Swiftly o'er the plain they flew: 

They ne'er lose a trail. 
Nor to kill ever fail. 

Or show the dead kangaroo. 

"When a booma 's at bay 

You 've the devil to pay, 
He '11 fight like a boxer, 't is true: 

He 's a terrible foe. 
As the dogs often know. 

In encounters with kangaroo. 

"I 've kept you too long. 
So an end to my song ; 
I hope 't will amuse not a few. 

When we meet again 
We '11 go out on the plain, 
For a hunt of the kangaroo." 

When the gentlemen were about to be seated at 
the dinner-table, Captain Anthony was filled with 
consternation as a government ofl&cial placed his 
hand on his arm and said, " Excuse me, sir, but 
what is your name and business, and what are you 
doing here ? '' 

Captain Anthony naturally thought the plot had 
been betrayed, when Breslin stepped up to explain 
that this was a custom of the country. The captain 
received such a shock that he failed to thoroughly 
enjoy the dinner. He found another illustration of 
the suspicion which is always abroad in the penal 
colony, later in the day. Going into the hydro- 
graphic office to buy a chart of the coast, he was 



C 



126 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

compelled to reply to a long series of questions be- 
fore he was permitted to purchase it. 

On Thursday, April 6, Captain Anthony started 
back to the ship in the Bunbury mail coach, carry- 
ing $250 in gold which Mr. Breslin had given him 
to square up his bills. This was a thirty-two hours' 
journey over sandy roads, and as the weather was 
hot and Captain Anthony was the only passenger, 
he was utterly wearied when he arrived at Bunbury 
at four p. M. the following day. 



CHAPTER XX 

A CRITICAL SITUATION 

And now followed a period of waiting, and the 
captain was worn with anxiety. The possible sus- 
picion of the people ashore at the delay in departure 
must be anticipated, and the captain busied himself 
in getting potatoes and onions, wood and water 
aboard, and opened up negotiations for a quantity 
of kangaroo skins. 

The crew had become uneasy at the long delay, 
and were almost mutinous at their restricted shore 
liberty, for Captain Anthony did not dare to trust 
them with shore leave, excepting in charge of an 
officer. Their own theory of the proceeding was 
that the vessel was fitting for a cruise to New Zea- 
land. They were humored in this belief, and were 
kept busy in painting and refitting. 

One forenoon, when the captain was ashore with 
Mr. Smith, they noticed the colors at half-mast, and 
saw that four of the crew had stolen a boat and 
were rowing ashore, with another boat's crew in 
pursuit. The runaways reached shore and started 
for the beach. The police were notified, and soon 
overtook and captured them. The ringleader, Jo- 
seph McCarty, struck an officer and was detained. 



128 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

The other three were delivered aboard the vessel 
and were placed in irons in the steerage. The man 
who was arrested was a desperate fellow, and Cap- 
tain Anthony was glad to have him go. He was 
sentenced for seven days for the assault. The cap- 
tain hoped to get to sea before he was released, but 
the man served his time and went down on the jetty 
and sought to go aboard the ship. Captain Anthony 
did not dare to trust the man, in view of his delicate 
mission, and refused to receive him. He was one 
of the men who was shipped at Teneriffe, and had 
a bad record. 

Two days had passed since the captain's return to 
the vessel, and no word had been received from 
Breslin. Meanwhile, the vessel was in readiness 
for a prompt departure. At noon, on Tuesday, 
April 11, a telegram was delivered to Captain An- 
thony, which read as follows : — 

Your friend S. has gone home. When do you 
sail? 

J. Collins. 

Captain Anthony at once cleared his vessel at the 
custom-house, and later in the day, as he was about 
to telegraph that he would start, word was brought 
to him at the hotel that the Catalpa had been seized 
by the custom-house officials and that an officer 
was in charge. The distracted captain hastened to 
the custom-house, and found his offense had been 
a violation of the law in landing a barrel of pork 
after he had cleared. After a long consultation the 



A CRITICAL SITUATION 129 

officers released the vessel, but it was then too late 
to sail. 

On Wednesday, Captain Anthony telegraphed : — 

I '11 sail to-day. Good-by. Answer, if received. 

G. S. Akthony. 
Back came the reply : — 

Your telegram received. Friday being Good 
Friday, I shall remain in Freemantle, and leave for 
York on Saturday morning. I wish you may strike 
oil. Answer, if received. 

J. Collins. 

Freemantle. 

Captain Anthony at once appreciated the situa- 
tion. He knew that the prisoners were detained in 
their cells on Sundays and holidays, and that his 
plan would have placed him at Rockingham on 
Friday. He replied to Breslin's telegram : — 

Yours received. Did not leave to-day. Wind 
ahead and raining. Sail in the morning. Good-by. 

G. S. Anthony. 

That evening the captain discovered that his crew 
had been doing a rescue on its own account, and had 
stowed a ticket-of-leave man in the mizzen-topmast 
staysail. While he pitied the fellow, he was fearful 
that the authorities might discover the man hidden 
on his vessel, and make trouble which would inter- 
fere with the great object ahead. So he notified the 
police, and they came aboard and took the man 
ashore. 



130 THE CATALPA* EXPEDITION 

Still misfortune crowded in upon the conspirators. 
A heavy storm came on, extra anchors were neces- 
sary ; but with the whole length of chain out the 
Catalpa dragged, and destruction on the bar was 
threatened. 

It was impossible to sail, and Captain Anthony 
knew that Breslin's plans must be upset once more. 
He went to the telegraph office to send a message, 
and found it closed on account of the holiday. He 
hunted up the operator, a woman. She declined to 
go to the office, saying it would be useless, since the 
Freemantle office was closed. The captain pleaded, 
for he knew that everything depended upon it. At 
length the woman opened the office and sat down to 
the instrument. 

She called for several minutes. There was no 
reply. 

" I told you it would be of no use,'^ she replied. 

Just then came an answering click. The opera- 
tor sat down at the instrument once more. After a 
moment, she said : — 

" They are taking the message. An operator hap- 
pened in.'' 

Captain Anthony nearly shouted with joy. This 
is the message which he sent : — 

J. Collins, Esq. : — 

It has blown heavy. Ship dragged both an- 
chors. Can you advance money, if needed ? Will 
telegraph again in the morning. 

G. S. Anthony. 



A CRITICAL SITUATION 131 

Once more the element of good luck had mani- 
fested itself, this time at a most critical point. 

On Saturday morning, April 15, Captain Anthony 
finally telegraphed : — 

"I shall certainly sail to-day. Suppose you will 
leave for York Sunday morning. Good-by." 

Straightway the answer came back : — 

Your telegram received. All right. Glad you 
got off without damage. Au revoir. 

J. Collins. 

Captain Anthony reported at the custom-house 
that he was ready for sea, and the officers came off 
and prodded the hold and every dark space with 
spears, according to custom, to see if any prisoners 
were stowed away. At two o'clock in the after- 
noon a moderate favoring breeze from the S. S. W. 
was blowing. Anchor was hoisted, and with all 
sail set the Catalpa slipped up the coast bound for 
E-ockingham. 



chapte:r XXI 

LEAVING THE SHIP 

At sundown the vessel was well outside the har- 
bor and sail was shortened. In the evening the 
captain went below for a nap, telling the officers in 
charge of the deck not to go over three miles an hour, 
to keep the land well in sight, and call him at mid- 
night if all was well, but sooner if there was any 
change in the weather. At twelve o'clock Captain 
Anthony was on deck again. The weather continued 
favorable, for which he was exceedingly grateful. 
The inverted season corresponded to fall at home, 
and it was the time when storms were looked for. 
A delay now would certainly be disastrous, and the 
weather was a source of the most constant anxiety. 

The captain remained on deck throughout the 
night. At noon on Sunday the vessel had pro- 
ceeded up the coast until it was about twenty miles 
south of Rottnest lighthouse, off Freemantle har- 
bor. Now he called Mr. Smith into the cabin, 
spread out the chart, and explained to him that 
the lighthouse was twelve miles offshore from the 
Freemantle jetty and one hundred and ninety-seven 
feet above the level of the sea, with a signal station 
on top from which the approach of vessels was sig- 



LEAVING THE SHIP 133 

naled to the town. He cautioned the mate to keep 
the ship out of near range, and told Mr. Smith that 
the crisis had come and he was about to start in the 
small boat. He was to lay off and on the land and 
keep a sharp lookout for his return. 

" If I do not come back/' he said, " you must use 
your best judgment. Go whaling or go home, as 
you like." 

Then the men clasped hands, and Captain An- 
thony once more thanked fortune that he could leave 
his vessel in the hands of a brave man who could 
be trusted, whatever the emergency. 

The captain then went on deck, threw a coat into 
one of the whaleboats, stowed away a bag of hard- 
bread, two kegs of water, and half a boiled ham, and 
ordered the boat lowered. A crew which the cap- 
tain had selected after much thought was then sta- 
tioned at the oars : Mr. Sylvia the third mate, Tobey 
the boatsteerer, Lewis a Portuguese, and Mopsy and 
Lombard, two Malays. Each man was told to take 
his coat, and the proceeding doubtless caused amaze- 
ment among the men ; but good sailors obey orders 
in silence and no word was spoken among them. 

It was one o'clock in the afternoon when the 
boat left the ship. Captain Anthony was due at 
Eockingham at noon the next day. A small sail 
was put on the boat, and she made good progress. 
Just before dark, when the boat was well in under 
Garden Island, the sail was taken in and oars were 
shipped, for the captain did not wish to make a 
landing before nightfall. When the boat was off 



134 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

the south end of the island the captain was startled 
at a roaring like thunder, and an instant later saw 
blind breakers, ten feet in height, making directly 
for the boat. He shouted orders to the men to look 
out for their oars and trim the boat. They let the 
oars come alongside and succeeded in keeping the 
little craft steady. She was lifted high in air on 
three of the rollers. Then all was quiet, for the 
boat had reached the smooth waters of Cockburn 
Sound. Oars were shipped once more, and the boat 
jogged on in the darkness. The captain knew by 
the ranges he had taken as he came through the 
passage that he must be near the spot selected as a 
meeting place. 

A landing was made on the beach. Captain 
Anthony stepped ashore and had not walked more 
than three hundred feet when his foot struck the 
stake which had been set up as a mark on his previ- 
ous visit. 

It was now about 8.30 o'clock in the evening. 
The boat was hauled up on the beach and the men 
were told to lie down in the grass and sleep. It 
was clear and warm, and, unquestioning, they did as 
the captain told them. 

Captain Anthony walked the beach all the night 
through, filled with disquieting thoughts and long- 
ing for the day. 



CHAPTEE XXII 

THE ESCAPE 

Meanwhile, how had it fared with Breslin, 
whom we have seen must have been forced to change 
his plans several times at brief notice ? Mr. Bres- 
lin had arranged a signal with Wilson which meant, 
^' Get ready ; we start to-morrow morning," but he 
could not give it on Friday. He succeeded, how- 
ever, in sending a letter of instructions, concluding : 
" We have money, arms, and clothes ; let no man's 
heart fail him, for this chance can never occur 
again.'' 

Desmond went from Perth to Freemantle and 
joined Breslin, with a pair of fine horses and a four- 
wheeled wagon. He reached there Friday evening. 
Mr. Breslin had a similar conveyance and the best 
pair of horses he could get in Freemantle engaged 
for Friday and Saturday. On Friday afternoon he 
took the horses out for a trial trip, to see that they 
went well together and were in good condition. 

Everything was in readiness for the attempt, when 
Mr. Breslin received Captain Anthony's telegram 
announcing that the Catalpa could not start on ac- 
count of the storm. By a fortunate chance Cranston 
had been sent from the prison into the town that 



136 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

evening, and he was informed of the change in the 
programme. Mr. Breslin thought that inasmuch as 
the vessel had dragged both anchors, she must have 
gone on the bar, and that a delay of weeks might 
follow before she was again ready for sea. So Des- 
mond returned to Perth and prepared for another 
wait. But on Saturday came the telegram from 
Captain Anthony announcing that he would sail that 
day. 

The escape must therefore be accomplished on 
Monday. Mr. Breslin engaged the same horses for 
Sunday and sent King to Perth on horseback to 
notify Desmond to return to Freemantle with his 
horses on Sunday evening. Saturday evening he 
walked to the jetty and gave to Wilson the signal 
which meant, ^^ We start to-morrow morning.'' For- 
tunately he noticed Wilson's puzzled look, for an 
escape on Sunday, when the men were locked in the 
prison, was, of course, impossible. Then he realized 
the error. Walking leisurely across, he said to Wil- 
son as he passed, " Monday morning," without being 
observed by the warden or the other prisoners. 

Desmond arrived in Freemantle at about two 
o'clock Sunday afternoon with an inferior pair of 
horses, and when Mr. Breslin went to get the horses 
he had engaged, he found that Albert, the owner, 
had given the best horse to Mr. Stone, the superin- 
tendent of the water police, to go to Perth, his bro- 
ther-in-law, the sheriff, having been injured by being 
thrown from his horse. Moreover, Albert told him 
he could not have the other horse, since he had 



THE ESCAPE 137 

promised it to a man to go to the Perth regatta on 
Easter Monday. So he engaged another pair, but 
the expedition was much more poorly equipped in 
this respect than on the date first selected. 

And now came Monday. There were many 
anxious hearts in Australia that night, and Captain 
Anthony, who paced the lonely beach, was not alone 
in his sleepless vigil. At 5.30 o'clock in the morn- 
ing Breslin had the hostler called. Brennan started 
at six for Rockingham with arms and luggage. At 
seven Mr. Breslin went to Albert's stable and found 
his horses harnessed to a light trap, waiting for him. 
He told the hostler to let them stand a few minutes 
and then found Desmond and directed him to have 
his horses harnessed and ready to leave in half an 
hour. 

It was arranged that Desmond should leave by a 
side street which, after a few turns, took him up on 
the E/Ockingham Road, while Breslin was to drive 
up High Street, as if he were going to Perth, then 
turn around by the prison and on to the same road. 
King, who was well mounted, was to remain for a 
reasonable time after the start, then follow with in- 
formation whether the alarm had been given. 

At half past seven Breslin drove slowly up the 
principal street, turned to the right, walked his 
horses slowly by the warden's quarters and pension- 
ers' barracks. The men were beginning to assemble 
for parade. He had arranged with the prisoners 
that he would have the traps waiting at the road at 
a quarter before eight, the nearest to be stationed 



138 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

about five minutes' run from the prison, and that 
they would remain until nine o'clock. 

Being ahead of time, Breslin drove slowly along 
the Rockingham Road, met Desmond, and they 
stopped under a tree and divided the hats and coats 
they had brought to cover the convict garb, each 
taking three long linen coats and three hats. Then 
Breslin drove back toward Freemantle, Desmond 
following. 

Time, 7.55 o'clock. 

A few minutes later, three men in prison dress 
were seen coming down the Rockingham Road. 
They proved to be Wilson, Cranston, and Harring- 
ton. Breslin told them to pass on and get into Des- 
mond's trap, which they did. Desmond wheeled 
his horses around and they were seated and ready to 
start when the other three came in sight. Breslin 
drove toward them and found they were Darragh, 
Hogan, and Hassett. One carried a spade and an- 
other a large kerosene can. When the men recog- 
nized their rescuers, the man with the spade threw it 
with exultant vigor into the bush and the prisoner 
with the can bestowed a kick upon it in good foot- 
ball fashion. 

At this critical juncture, Breslin's horses rebelled 
and refused to wheel around. Darragh caught one 
by the head, but he plunged so that Breslin was 
afraid the animal would break the harness, and 
shouted to Darragh to let go. He did so and the 
horses started fairly well together. Driving to a 
wider part of the road, they wheeled nicely. Bres- 













m 


N 


CA 


t^r 


W 


k 


^ 


^ 
►ci 


O 




(/) 




s 


-s 


fl, 


^ 


Q 


:^ 


W 


^^ 


D 


►^ 


C) 


^~" 


rn 


►^ 


Pi 


"^ 




■Sa 


W 


►^ 


ffi 




H 


5 



THE ESCAPE 139 

lin picked up his men, and the horses were off at 
dashing speed, Desmond, meanwhile, was out of 
sight, and King had come up, reporting everything 
quiet when he left. 

It must here be explained how the prisoners were 
able to get away so successfully. Their good con- 
duct and length of imprisonment had entitled them 
to the rank of constable, which afforded the oppor- 
tunity for communication with each other. Wilson 
and Harrington worked in the same party at the 
construction of harbor works in Freemantle. Hogan 
was a painter by trade, and on this morning was 
employed in painting the house of Mr. Fauntleroy, 
outside the prison walls. Cranston was employed 
in the stores, and as messenger occasionally. Dar- 
ragh was clerk and attendant to the Church of 
England chaplain, and enjoyed facilities for com- 
munication with the other prisoners. This morning 
he took Hassett with him to plant potatoes in the 
garden of Mr. Broomhole, clerk of works in the 
convict department. 

It fortunately happened that on the morning of 
April 17 all the political prisoners were at work 
outside the prison wall. Cranston walked out as if 
going to deiiver a message. He overtook the work- 
ing party and told the warden he had been sent to 
take Wilson and Harrington to move some furniture 
in the governor's house, which was the nearest point 
to the meeting place. He exhibited a key, and the 
warden directed the two men to go with Cranston. 

Darragh and Hassett started as if for work in the 



140 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

same, direction, and Hogan made an excuse to the 
warden to leave his work for a moment, and joined 
them. 

" There was one incident of this daring enterprise 
which completed its dramatic intensity/' writes 
James Jeffrey Roche. '^ The soldier convicts in 
Freemantle numbered one more than those who were 
rescued. That one was purposely left behind be- 
cause of an act of treachery which he had attempted 
against his fellows ten long years before. He was 
tried with the others, by court-martial, and found 
guilty of treason ; but before his sentence received 
the approval of the commander-in-chief he had 
offered to divulge the names of certain of his com- 
rades not yet arrested, though implicated in the 
Fenian conspiracy. His offer was not accepted. 
The government punished him for his treason, and 
his comrades, half a score of years afterward, pun- 
ished him more cruelly for the treason which he 
had contemplated against them." 

The two traps, followed by King, made a quick 
journey to Rockingham. Mr. Somers, the proprie- 
tor of the hotel, stood in the door as the traps 
passed, but suspected nothing, inasmuch as he knew 
Breslin and Desmond, and the prison garb of the 
other men was concealed by their long coats. As 
the men drove up, he shouted : — 

^' What time will the Georgette be at the timber 
jetty ? " 

" Is the Georgette coming here ? '' shouted Bres- 
Hn. 



THE ESCAPE 141 

" Yes. She 's due now." 

Here was alarming news. The presence of the 
Georgette would ruin all. The horses were driven 
to a gallop. At half past ten the party approached 
the beach and saw Brennan making signals to them 
to hasten. 



CHAPTEE XXIII 

IN THE OPEN BOAT 

Captain Anthony walked up and down the 
beach throughout the long night, while his crew 
slept in the warm sand. He knew that the fate of 
the expedition, disastrous or successful, depended 
upon the developments of the ensuing day, and he 
was impatient to know the fate which awaited him. 
Twice during the night he roused the men to haul 
the boat farther up the beach, as the tide was rising. 
They responded sleepily and then dropped asleep 
again in careless sailor fashion. 

As daylight approached, the captain was surprised 
and alarmed to find he was near a timber station. 
It had been unnoticed on the previous visit. Soon 
after sunrise, a gang of men put in an appearance 
and commenced carting lumber to a jetty not more 
than half a mile away. 

He knew his presence must be discovered, and it 
was not long before one of the men from the jetty 
was seen approaching. 

" What 's going on ? " asked the man, as he came 
up. 

Captain Anthony told him he was bound to Free- 
mantle for an anchor, to replace one which was lost. 
The man grinned at this. 



IN THE OPEN BOAT 143 

"Lad/' said he, "you've hooked it (ran away) 
from some ship, and I advise you to get out. This 
is no place to lay." 

Then Anthony told him he was master of a ship, 
but the man was not to be convinced, 

" I believe you 're after Kenneth Brown," he said. 

Brown was a man who was at that time under 
arrest for the murder of his wife. 

Captain Anthony concluded it was useless to at- 
tempt a further explanation, and asked the man if 
he would tell him the best way to get out with his 
boat. 

" I 'm an ex-prisoner myself," said the man, " and 
I knew you were after somebody." He seemed 
disposed to assist the captain, to the relief of the 
latter, for if he had started to join his companions, 
Anthony would have been alarmed to an extent 
which might have made it necessary to resort to 
desperate means for his detention. 

The visitor then told the captain that he must be 
very sure and keep close to Garden Island. There 
was a dangerous reef farther out, and it would be 
sure destruction to the boat to attempt to go out 
that way. 

" But that 's the way I came," said the captain. 
As he looked out, he saw the breakers making white 
water on the coral reef. He must have been carried 
completely over it by the blind rollers the previous 
night. He now realized that his escape had been 
providential. 

Then the man said, in reply to questions, that 



144 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

he was getting a cargo of timber ready for the 
Georgette/' 

^' When is the Georgette coming ? " asked the 
captain with eagerness. 

"Why, she's coming now/' he replied. "You 
can see her smoke." 

There in the offing the captain saw^ the smoke of 
the steamer, and he began to realize that the situa- 
tion was growing critically perilous. 

At this moment there was a rattle of wheels, and 
Captain Anthony saw a two-wheeled trap, drawn by 
a horse on the gallop, coming up the beach toward 
him. 

Brennan was driving, and he had the luggage of 
the party. He had lost his way, and had led his 
horse through the brush until he reached the beach. 
There he saw the men and the boat and drove his 
horse on the run toward them. 

" Who is that man ? " asked Brennan, as he came 
up and saw the stranger. 

" He 's a prisoner here and working on that 
jetty," replied the captain. 

" We must shoot him," said Brennan. 

" There will be no shooting yet," said the cap- 
tain. " Where are the others ? " 

" Close behind," said Brennan, and he commenced 
unloading valises and bags belonging to Breslin, 
King, and Desmond. 

Next King came up on horseback. The situation 
was explained to him, and he rode back to urge his 
comrades on. 



IN THE OPEN BOAT 145 

Meanwhile the boat's crew sat huddled in the 
sand, apprehensive at the proceedings. The captain 
ordered them to push the boat into the water, each 
man to stand by the side of the boat, abreast his 
thwart. When he gave the order, he instructed 
them to shove the boat off as quickly as possible, to 
take the oars and pull. He cautioned them not 
to be afraid, whatever happened, at which the poor 
fellows looked at each other in consternation. 

After an interval of fifteen minutes, which seemed 
much longer, a rattling of wheels and clatter of hoofs 
was heard, and Desmond and Breslin drove up with 
the prisoners, their horses quite exhausted. 

As the prisoners jumped from the traps, their 
long linen coats blew open, showing their convict 
suits, with the unusual accompaniments of English 
belts, each containing two six - shooters. They 
seized rifles from the carriages, and with their arms 
full of cartridges made a rush for the boat. 

At this the crew stood paralyzed, for they thought 
they were about to be attacked. One Malay drew 
a sheath knife and the others seized buckets, raised 
oars, and prepared to resist the men who were clos- 
ing in upon them. This move was so unexpected 
that it was fortunate that an attack was averted, 
but a loud order from the captain in various lan- 
guages at his command quieted the men. It was 
subsequently learned that the theory of the crew 
was that Captain Anthony had been smuggling and 
that the arrivals were government officials. The 
crew had determined to fight if necessary, to prevent 
the arrest of the captain. 



146 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

At length the boat was afloat. The prisoners 
had been ordered to stow themselves as closely as 
possible in the bottom of the boat. Breslin, King, 
and Desmond sat in the stern and Captain Anthony- 
took a position on top of the stern sheet, with the 
steering oar. 

After some splashing the men began to pull with 
enthusiasm to the accompaniment of a running 
stream of rallying cries from the captain of " Pull 
as if you were pulling for a whale," '' Come down, 
Mopsy," ^^ Pull, Tobey, pull," " Come down, you 
big Lewis,'' '' Pull, Tobey, pull," " Give them 
the stroke, Mr. Sylvia," '^ What do you say, men," 
" Come down altogether," " Pull away, my men, 
pull away." 

Now the wind was beginning to breeze up from 
the west, blowing straight on shore. On the beach 
stood the timber-worker from the jetty, dumfounded 
at the spectacle, with the six horses, wandering about 
the shore. The boat was no more than a half mile 
from the beach when a squad of eight mounted po- 
licemen drove up. The flight had been discovered. 

With the police were a number of " trackers," 
aboriginal bushmen who play the role of human 
bloodhounds. They wore short bokas, or cloaks of 
kangaroo skin, with belts of twisted fur around 
their naked bodies. These natives are attached to 
the prisons to follow the trail of absconding con- 
victs, and they are wonderfully adept in running 
down a prisoner. 

The police were armed with carbines and might 



IN THE OPEN BOAT 147 

have shot some of the men in the boat, but fortu- 
nately they did not fire. They watched the boat 
a while and then took the horses and led them 
toward the timber station. 

Breslin had prepared a note to the governor 
which he fastened to a float and posted by the ocean 
mail. As the wind and tide were setting ashore, it 
undoubtedly reached its destination. The letter was 
as follows — 

EocKiNGHAM, April 17, 1876. 

To His Excellency the British Governor of 

Western Australia. 

This is to certify that I have this day released 
from the clemency of Her Most Gracious Majesty 
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, etc., etc., six Irish- 
men, condemned to imprisonment for life by the 
enlightened and magnanimous government of Great 
Britain for having been guilty of the atrocious and 
unpardonable crimes known to the unenlightened 
portion of mankind as ^' love of country ^^ and 
" hatred of tyranny ; " for this act of " Irish assur- 
ance '' my birth and blood being my full and suffi- 
cient warrant. Allow me to add that 

In taking my leave now, I 've onl}'- to say 
A few cells I 've emptied (a sell in its way) ; 
I 've the honor and pleasure to bid you good-day, 
From all future acquaintance, excuse me, I pray. 

In the service of my country, 

John J. Breslin. 



CHAPTER XXiy 

AN AWFUL NIGHT 

It was five o'clock in the afternoon when the 
rowboat went through the passage, and as Captain 
Anthony saw the menacing reef upon which the 
water was foaming and breaking, it seemed impossi- 
ble that he had gone over it the night before. 

Now the little boat was riding on lengthened seas 
which were rolling in from the ocean with increas- 
ing violence. The wind was blasty, but hauled a 
little in the boat's favor, so that Captain Anthony 
ordered the little sail set and told his companions if 
he could head in the way he was now going, the 
ship should be raised in an hour. 

The fury of the wind and sea now poured upon 
the boat, and darkness was coming on, when the 
Catalpa was raised ahead. Captain Anthony knew 
that the little boat would not be visible to the ship 
and that the latter would stand off shore as soon as 
it became thick. 

The sky grew blacker and the sea grew steadily 
heavier. The boat began to jump and jar until it 
seemed that she might lose her spar or mast step. 
The seas commenced to comb and break across the 
stern, or, running the length of the boat, would 



AN AWFUL NIGHT 149 

tumble in, soaking the men and threatening to 
swamp the little craft. Captain Anthony felt that 
his salvation lay in reaching the ship that night. 

The sixteen men were directed to take a place on 
the weather gunwale, and the man in charge of the 
sheet was ordered to take a turn about the thwart 
and not to slacken an inch. A crisis had arrived, 
and any risk was preferable to a night on the ocean 
in such a storm as was imminent. The boat leaped 
forward at a spanking rate, and the spray flew like 
feathers; and the water rose in mimic mountains, 
crowned with white foam which the wind blew in 
mist from summit to summit. Miles away the 
Catalpa was seen, barely discernible at moments 
when she rose on the crest of a larger wave than 
common, thrusting her bows into the air, surrounded 
by foam, and apparently ready to take flight from 
the sea. 

Then, with a crash, the mast went over the side, 
breaking close to the thwart. The boat nearly 
capsized to windward, but the captain threw her 
head to the wind and the magnificent eff'orts of the 
crew kept her afloat. Monstrous seas now rolled 
into her, threatening to overwhelm the craft. She 
was almost water-logged, and shipped water over 
bow and stern alternately, as she rose and fell. 
The crew bailed vehemently and desperately. The 
rescued men were very sick, and lay in the bottom of 
the boat, a wretched heap of miserable humanity. 

The boat was relieved of some of the water, and 
the wreck hauled in. Oars were shipped, but row- 



150 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

ing accomplished nothing more than holding the 
boat on her course, and almost in despair the men 
saw the Catalpa tack offshore. 

The gale increased in violence as night wore on, 
and the men were completely worn out. The seas 
dashed over them, and their strength was taxed to 
exhaustion in bailing quickly lest the next sea might 
tumble in and wreck the boat. After the mast 
went, Captain Anthony took the midship oar, lashed 
on the jib, and stuck it up. The sheet was hauled 
aft, and the centreboard lowered, which steadied 
the boat and kept steerageway on her. The phos- 
phoresence afforded a spectacle which Captain An- 
thony had never witnessed in equal degree, but 
it only made the wild scene more terrifying and 
awful. 

Tor hours the seas continued to hurl themselves 
across the boat, while the men cast out the sea with 
bailers improvised from water kegs, the heads of 
which were knocked out. 

Little was said, but occasionally one of the res- 
cued men would ask " Captain, do you think we will 
float through the night ? ^' The captain would 
cheerily reply, ^' Oh, yes, I've been out on many 
a worse night ; " but he has since confessed that 
he would not have given a cent for the lives of the 
entire company. Under other circumstances the 
danger would have been much less. But the boat 
was overloaded, the gunwales being within two 
inches of the water, and she was nearly unmanage- 
able. To run back to Garden Island meant capture. 



AN AWFUL NIGHT 151 

The crew had eaten nothing but a little dry hard- 
bread since the noon of the day previous, and were 
painfully athirst. The provisions and water in the 
boat had been washed overboard. Captain Anthony 
was on his knees on top of the stern sheets steering, 
and often the seas rose to his armpits. The men 
were groaning, and it was so dark that the captain 
could not see his crew. ISTo word was spoken ex- 
cepting repeated orders to bail. 

Late in the night, when the captain had decided 
that the boat must swamp before long, the gale sub- 
sided somewhat. Daylight was welcome after the 
awful night. The sea had now gone down, and 
there was prospect of a fair day. The seas came 
aboard less frequently, and courage and hope re- 
turned. 

At sunrise every one was overjoyed to see the ship 
standing in toward the land. Oars were once more 
shipped, and with the sail drawing good progress 
was made. 



CHAPTEE XXV 

A RACE WITH THE GUARD-BOAT 

About an hour after sunrise the Georgette was 
seen coming out of Freemantle. The men knew she 
was searching for them, and she seemed to be head- 
ing directly for the little boat. The sail was taken 
down, oars shipped, and the men lay down, one on 
top of the other, so that nothing showed above the 
rail. The steamer passed within a half mile of the 
boat and Captain Anthony could plainly see an offi- 
cer on the bridge with glasses, scanning the shore. 
The boat must have appeared like a log and been 
mistaken for a piece of floating timber, if it was seen 
by the men on the Georgette, for she steamed by 
and went out to the Catalpa. 

The anxious men in the boat feared she would re- 
main by the Catalpa and prevent them from going 
aboard, but the Georgette steamed up the coast after 
a while and swung in toward Garden Island, passing 
the whaleboat once more, but at a safe distance. 

Oars were once more manned. Mr. Smith on 
the Catalpa had not sighted the boat yet, for the 
background of high land interfered. The men 
pulled for two hours, when it was seen that there 
was a lighter alongside the ship, and it was at first 



A RACE WITH .THE GUARD-BOAT 153 

surmised that it was a fishing vessel. Captain Des- 
mond looked intently and then exclaimed : — 

^^ My God ! There 's the guard-boat, filled with 
police. Pass out those rifles." 

The guard-boat was large, with two mutton-leg 
sails, and there were thirty or forty men aboard. 
Afi'airs in the whaleboat assumed a belligerent as- 
pect. Rifles were distributed, wet cartridges drawn 
from revolvers and replaced with fresh, and the pris- 
oners swore they would fight until the last man was 
killed. 

At Desmond's cry the appearance of exhaustion 
vanished. Every man M^as alert. The crew put 
new vigor into the stroke of the oars. When about 
two and a half miles from the Catalpa, the lookout 
at the masthead evidently raised the whaleboat, for 
the Catalpa suddenly bore down with all sail set. 
The police evidently suspected something, for the 
oflicers ran up the sail-hoops on the mast and started 
after the ship, with three or four men at the sweeps 
to hasten her progress. 

Now it was a question whether the guard-boat 
would intercept the small boat before the ship was 
reached. If this was done, there would be a fatal 
conflict. The rescued men tried to help at the 
oars, but their efl'orts were a detriment, and they 
were ordered to lie in the bottom of the boat, that 
they might not hamper the crew. There they lay, 
and hugged their rifles grimly. 

There were moments of suspense, but at length 
it was seen that the whaleboat would reach the 



154 THE CATALPA .EXPEDITION 

Catalpa. As soon as lie was within hailing distance 
Captain Anthony shouted to Mr. Smith : — 

*' Hoist the ensign ! '^ 

The ensign was already bent, and one of the men 
jumped to the halyards and ran it to the peak. 

Mr. Smith had men at the braces and managed 
the vessel superbly. As the boat slammed along- 
side, everything was thrown hard aback. The men 
grabbed the boat tackle and swung the forward tackle 
to Mr. Sylvia and the after to Captain Anthony. 

The captain secured it, and, turning to order the 
men aboard ship, found he was alone in the boat. 
The prisoners had gone up the sideboards by the 
grip rope, with rifles and revolvers in their hands. 
The boat was hoisted on the davits, and as the 
captain stepped over the rail the guard-boat swept 
across the bow. 

The rescued men knew the officers, and they 
crowded to the rail in great glee, waving their rifles 
and shouting salutations and farewells, calling the 
officers by name. The guard knew that it was use- 
less for them to attempt to board the vessel. The 
officer in command accepted the result gracefully, 
and, giving a military salute, said ^^ Good-morning, 
captain." '' Good-morning," replied Captain An- 
thony, and the guard-boat kept off" toward the shore. 

There were wild scenes on board the whaleship 
in the next hour. The rescued men were in a state 
of exaltation, and cheered the captain, the crew, and 
everybody connected with the enterprise. If Cap- 
tain Anthony, Mr. Breslin, and the others had been 



A RACE WITH THE GUARD-BOAT 155 

reprieved from a death, sentence they would have 
felt no greater joy and contentment. Captain An- 
thony and Breslin complimented Mate Smith, and 
the former called the steward. 

" Get up the best dinner the ship can afford/' he 
said. " We 're hungry." 

The steward succeeded admirably. There were 
canned chickens and lobsters, boiled potatoes, 
canned fruits, tea and coffee, and it was the most 
memorable dinner in the lifetime of the men who 
assembled. Messrs. Breslin, Desmond, and King 
dined with the captain, and the rescued men ate in 
the steerage. 

Mr. Smith related that when the Georgette came 
alongside that morning, the captain of the English 
steamer asked where the boat was which was miss- 
ing from the cranes. The mate replied that the 
captain had gone ashore. " What for ? " was asked. 
" I don't know anything about it," said Mr. Smith. 
" Can I come aboard ? " asked the officer. " Not 
by a damned sight," was Mr. Smith's reply. It 
was the theory of the Georgette's officers that the 
gale had been so violent that the small boat must 
have returned to land, so, leaving the guard-boat 
alongside, she ran in under the shore to cut off the 
whaleboat if possible. 

After dinner Captain Anthony directed Mr. 
Smith to let the boat's crew go below and stay as 
long as the men wished. 

That night the wind died out, and the topsails 
hung supinely from the yards, the air which breathed 



156 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

occasionally from the land being unable to shake 
the heavy canvas. The captain gave up his room 
to Mr. Breslin, and Desmond and King were as- 
signed to rooms in the forward cabin. 

Captain Anthony lay down on a four-foot lounge, 
instructing Mr. Smith to work off shore if possible, 
but the ship did not move her own length during 
the entire night. 



\ 



I 



CHAPTER XXYI 

OVEKHAULED BY THE GEORGETTE 

At daybreak Captain Anthony was called by Mr. 
Smith, who announced that the Georgette was 
approaching. Breslin was summoned, and the men 
hastened on deck. 

As the steamer came nearer, it was seen that she 
had a regiment of soldiers aboard. The Georgette 
was a four hundred ton vessel, twice as big as the 
Catalpa. On her upper deck a big gun was mounted, 
and the soldiery were assembled on the main deck, 
a forest of bayonets glistening in the morning sun. 

It was a show which was calculated to intimi- 
date the men on the little whaleship, but no one 
on the Catalpa faltered. The captain ordered the 
ensign hoisted to the masthead, and mounted the 
poop deck. 

It was seen that Colonel Harvest, heavy laden in 
the gorgeous trappings of a British army officer, was 
in charge of the deck. At one moment, when the 
colonel's attention was elsewhere. Captain 0' Grady 
waved his hat at his whilom companion on a recent 
trip, and Captain Anthony waved his hand in re- 
sponse. 

The next salutation was a solid shot fired across 



158 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

the bow of the Catalpa. As it ricocheted along, 
the water flew as high as the masthead. Mean- 
while the ship was rolling helplessly, for there was 
no wind. As the yards bowed to meet the water, 
her sails flapped and yards creaked. But now a 
faint breeze filled the sails, and the Catalpa began 
to make some headway. When she was abeam the 
Georgette, Colonel Harvest shouted : — 

*^ Heave to!" 

" What for ? " screamed Captain Anthony in 
reply. 

^' You have escaped prisoners aboard that ship." 

" You 're mistaken," said Captain Anthony. 
" There are no prisoners aboard this ship. They 're 
all free men." 

The Georgette had a whaleboat on the davits, 
and the men on the whaleship assumed it was for 
boarding purposes. Breslin collected the rescued 
men together, and they determined to resist. While 
the above colloquy was in progress, Mr. Smith had 
fitted out the company with cutting spades, whaling 
guns, and heavy pieces of iron and logs of wood 
with which to sink the boat if it came alongside. 

"I see the men aboard the ship now," yelled 
Colonel Harvest. 

" You 're mistaken, sir," returned Captain An- 
thony. " Get up, men, and show yourselves." 

The men walked to the rail. " You can see for 
yourself they are my crew," said the captain. 

" I have telegraphed the American government, 
and have orders to seize you," was the colonel's 
next announcement. 



OVERHAULED BY THE GEORGETTE 159 

Captain Anthony knew this was impossible and 
made no reply. 

^' Are you going to heave to ? " asked the colonel. 

". No, sir/' replied Captain Anthony firmly. 

The Georgette was on the lee of the Catalpa. 
The wind was freshening and the Georgette was 
steaming to keep up. 

^' Don't you know you have violated the colonial 
laws ? " asked Colonel Harvest. 

'^ No, sir," answered Captain Anthony ; at which 
the colonel seemed greatly enraged. 

'^ I '11 give you fifteen minutes in which to heave 
to," said he, " and I '11 blow your masts out unless 
you do so. I have the means to do it." 

He pointed to the gun, which the soldiers were 
swabbing, preparatory to reloading. 

" This ship is sailing under the American flag and 
she is on the high seas. If you fire on me, I warn 
you that you are firing on the American flag." 
This was Captain Anthony's reply. 

The vessels were now about eighteen miles ofi"- 
shore. On the tack upon which she was sailing 
the Catalpa was running inshore. Captain Anthony 
feared it was the trick to decoy him into Australian 
waters, and decided to go about on the other tack. 
He consulted with Mr. Smith whether it was advis- 
able to tack or wear ship, his fear of the former 
course being that the vessel might get '^ in irons " 
and lose her headway, and in the confusion the 
Georgette might shoot alongside. 

So it was decided to wear. When the Catalpa's 



160 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

crew hauled up the clews of the mainsail, hauled 
down the head of the spanker, and let the gafP- 
topsail run down, the officers on the Georgette evi- 
dently thought the Catalpa proposed to haul hack^ 
and the steamer was stopped. 

Then Captain Anthony put the wheel up, and 
the vessel swung off quickly and headed straight for 
the Georgette, going before the wind. The captain 
of the steamer construed this as an attempt to run 
him down. He rang the jingle-bell and went ahead 
at full speed, but when the Catalpa swung by him, 
her flying jibboom just cleared the steamer's rigging. 
The ship's sails filled on the other tack and the 
Catalpa headed offshore. 

The Georgette again steamed under the bark's 
lee. Colonel Harvest once more asked the captain 
if he proposed to ^^ heave to," and the captain once 
more replied that he did not. The steamer followed 
for an hour. Colonel Harvest walking the bridge. 
Then the Georgette stopped. It was now four 
o'clock in the afternoon. The wind was fair and 
fresh, and constantly increasing. 

When the Catalpa was some distance away. Cap- 
tain Anthony called to the rescued men, ^' Boys, 
take a good look at her. Probably you '11 never 
see her again." When the vessels were a few miles 
apart, the Georgette steamed back towards Freeman- 
tie, leaving a grateful and thankful party behind. 

" When the English commander gave the order 
to his stokers to slack down the fires, a veritable 
feu d'enfevy the battle ended," said the " Kilkenny 



OVERHAULED BY THE GEORGETTE 161 

Journal," in describing the incident. " But it was 
a terrible affray, and while the firing lasted there 
was a tremendous expenditure of coals. Every 
credit is due the Georgette. She steered off in 
magnificent style. As it turned a stern lookout 
upon its foe, the banner of Britain displayed its 
folds, and the blazoned lion, shimmering in the sun, 
seemed to make a gesture of defiance with his tail, 
by curving it between his heels." 

And the Catalpa sailed serenely on, and the star- 
spangled banner floated bravely in the breeze. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

BOUND HOME 

That night the Catalpa took a squall from the 
eastward which developed into a gale, and the bark 
ran before it under two lower topsails and a foresail. 
In forty-eight hours the vessel was four hundred 
miles off the coast. 

This led the leaders of the rescue to appreciate 
their extreme good fortune, for if the gale had arisen 
the night the Catalpa left Bunbury, Captain An- 
thony and his crew would not have been waiting on 
the beach at Kockingham to receive the fleeing pris- 
oners. The police, closely following, would have 
rearrested the men, Breslin and his followers would 
have been arrested, and disaster would have been 
the result of the year of anxiety and the expendi- 
ture of a fortune contributed largely by men who 
gave at considerable sacrifice. England would have 
been exultant at having captured the man who re- 
leased Stephens, and the Clan-na-Gael would have 
suffered bitterly from the ignominy. 

The day after the storm, April 19, Captain An- 
thony had two casks of clothing hoisted on deck. 
They were the best " slops " (the whaleman's ver- 
nacular for clothes and supplies) ever put aboard a 



BOUND HOME 163 

whaling vessel. The casks' heads were taken out, 
and Captain Anthony said to the men, " Go in and 
help yourselves. Take all you care for, and you'll 
need the thickest, for you '11 see some cold weather 
before you reach America." Each man selected at 
least two suits of clothing, as well as a large supply 
of underclothes. 

The rio-cnng-pen between decks was knocked down 
and two tiers of berths were built, one for each of 
the rescued men, from the lumber bought at Tener- 
ifife. They were amply supplied with bedding, seats 
and tables were built, and a boy from the forecastle 
was assigned to attend the men. 

The vessel was kept well to the northward, to 
take advantage of the southeast trade-winds, which 
were taken in lat. 24°. Then fresh and fair winds 
wafted the vessel across the Indian Ocean. At times 
the old Catalpa logged two hundred miles a day, 
although she was not regarded as a fast sailor. 

The men were given the freedom of the ship and 
thoroughly enjoyed the liberty which had been re- 
stored to them. Mr. Breslin wrote a song which 
the men were wont to sing as they lay on the decks 
on warm evenings. These were the words : — 
» Right across the Indian Ocean, while the trade-wind follows 

fast 
Speeds our ship with gentle motion ; fear and chains behind us 

Rollinrhome ! rolling home ! rolling home across the sea; 
Rolling home to bright Columbia ; home to friends and liberty. 

"Through the waters blue and bright, through dark wave and 

hissing foam, 
Ever onward, with delight, we are sailing still for home. 



164 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

O'er our pathway, in the sunshine, flies the wide-winged alba- 
tross, 

O'er our topmast, in the moonlight, hangs the starry Southern 
Cross. 

" By the stormy cape now fl^^ng, with a full and flowing sail, 
See the daylight round us dying on the black breast of the gale! 
See the lightning flash above us and the dark surge roll below ! 
Here 's a health to those who love us ! Here 's defiance to the foe ! 

"Now the wide Atlantic clearing with our good ship speeding 

free, 
The dull ' Cape of Storms ' we 're leaving far to eastward on 

our lee. 
And as homeward through the waters the old Catalpa goes, 
Ho! you fellows at the masthead, let us hear once more, "She 

blows." 

" Next by lonely St. Helena, with a steady wind we glide 

By the rock-built, sea-girt prison, where the gallant Frenchman 

died, 
"With the flying fish and porpoise sporting 'round us in the wave, 
With the starry flag of freedom floating o'er us bright and brave. 

"Past 'The Line,' and now the dipper hangs glittering in the 

sky. 
Onward still! In the blue water, see. the gulf weed passing by. 
Homeward! Homeward to Columbia, blow you, steady breezes, 

blow, 
'Till we hear it, from the masthead, the joj'^fulcry, " Land ho! ' " 

Mr. Farnham, the second mate, died suddenly of 
heart disease on the 8th of May, and was buried at 
sea the following day. He had been a faithful 
man, and there was sincere sorrow throughout the 
ship's company. 

Captain Anthony made his course for the south 
end of Madagascar, and stood well inshore in round- 
ing the cape, across the Agulhas Banks, to receive 
the advantage of the current which sets into the 
Atlantic Ocean. Here severe winter weather was 




THE CATALPA HOMEWARD BOUND 
Running before a Gale 



BOUND HOME * 165 

encountered. Then the " trades '' were welcomed 
once more, and the Catalpa sailed on with a fleet of 
twenty-one merchant vessels, all following the same 

course. 

Naturally the bark gave St. Helena a wide berth, 
since the neighborhood of a British possession was 
to be avoided. Subsequently it was learned that 
an English warship awaited the Catalpa at this 
point. There is an English naval station at As- 
cension, and Captain Anthony was likewise shy of 
a near approach to the island. 

On July 10 the Catalpa crossed the equator into 
the North Atlantic on long. 31° west. "You're 
almost American citizens now,'' remarked the cap- 
tain to the men on this day. 

Sperm whales were seen occasionally, and the 
boats were twice lowered, but the men were impa- 
tient to proceed, and little loitering was indulged. 

After running out of the northeast trades. Cap- 
tain Anthony proposed to Mr. Breslin that the vessel 
should make a business of cruising for whale for 
a while. " Now is just the season," said he, " for 
whaling on the Western Grounds. We are well 
enough fitted, excepting that we lack small stores, 
and we have plenty of money to buy from other 
vessels. I know the whaling grounds, and by haul- 
ing up to the northward we are almost certain to 
pick up a few hundred barrels of oil, and the voyage 
can be made as successful financially as it has been 
in other respects." Mr. Breslin agreed to this, and 
the course was made north by east. The men no- 



166 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

ticed the change in direction, and pleaded that 
they might be put ashore without any delay, and 
after a day or two it was decided to yield to their 
wishes ; orders were given to keep her off, and the 
bark was once more homeward bound. 

In the height of a savage gale the Catalpa passed 
Bermuda, and a few days later the lead showed that 
the vessel was approaching the coast. Then a pilot 
came aboard, and he was greatly surprised to find 
the destination to be New York, inasmuch as the 
vessel was a whaleship. But Captain Anthony and 
Mr. Breslin had agreed that this was the best place 
to land the men. Sandy Hook was eighty miles 
away. At six p. m. an ocean tug was spoken, which 
offered to tow the vessel into New York harbor for 
$250, but after considerable dickering the price was 
reduced to $90, and it was accepted. 



CHAPTEE XXYIII 

A CORDIAL RECEPTION 

Meanwhile the story of the rescue had been 
telegraphed to New York, and reporters swarmed 
aboard at quarantine, which was reached at mid- 
night. Captain Anthony did not know what the 
situation might be or how much it would be wise 
for him to tell, and the reception of the newspaper 
men was one of the most arduous experiences of the 
voyage. But their editions were waiting, and they 
could not delay long. At two o'clock on the morn- 
ing of August 19, 1876, the Catalpa anchored off 
Castle Garden. 

Captain Anthony and Mr. Breslin went ashore at 
sunrise in one of the boats and first went to the 
hotel of O'Donovan E,ossa, which was a headquarters 
for men affiliating with the Clan-na-Gael. The first 
person whom they met in the office, singularly 
enough, was a man who was a prisoner in Australia 
at the time of the rescue, but who was subsequently 
released and arrived in this country by steamer. He 
received the rescuers with enthusiasm. Various 
leaders were summoned, and the captain and Mr. 
Breslin were warmly welcomed. 

Later in the morning Captain Anthony went to 



168 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

the barge office and secured a permit to land his 
passengers. When he returned to the Catalpa she 
was surrounded by small boats, for the morning 
newspapers had told of her presence in port, and 
there was much curiosity to see her. 

" Men," said Captain Anthony, as he stepped on 
the deck, " I have a permit for you to go ashore, and 
you are at liberty to go M^hen you please." 

" God bless you, captain, you 've saved our lives," 
said Darragh, and in a few minutes the company 
left in the shore boat, in high spirits. 

Meanwhile Captain Anthony had communicated 
with Mr. Richardson, and he was instructed to leave 
the vessel in New York and return home, for his 
friends were anxious to see him. The local branch 
of the Clan-na-Gael, with representatives of other 
Irish societies, had been meeting nightly, arranging 
a reception to the gallant rescuer, and he was re- 
ceived at the train by thousands of people on the 
Sunday morning of his return. 

They were shocked at the changed appearance of 
the captain. When he left New Bedford, sixteen 
months before, he weighed 160 pounds and his hair 
was black as coal. The months of worry and in- 
tense excitement had worn upon him to such an 
extent that his weight was now reduced to 123 
pounds and his hair was sprinkled with gray. 

A few days after Captain Anthony arrived home, 
the following circular reached the office of the chief 
of police in New Bedford : — 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 



169 



POLICE DEPARTMENT. 
Chief Office, Perth, Western Australia, 



James Darragh, 9707, 
life sentence, 2d. 
March, 1866, aged 
42, Fenian, ab- 
sconded from Free- 
mantle, 8.30 A. M., 
April 17, 1876. 
Martin Hogan, 9767, 
sentence, life, August 
21, 1866, aged 37, 
Fenian, absconded 
as above. 
Michael Harrington, 
9757, life sentence, 
July 7, 1866, 48 
years, Fenian, ab- 
sconded as above. 
Thomas Hassett, 9758, 
life sentence, June 
26, 1866, Fenian, ab- 
sconded, etc. 
Robert Cranston, 9702, 
life sentence, June 
26, 1866, Fenian, ab- 
sconded, etc. 
James Wilson, 9915, 
life sentence, Aug. 
20, 1866, age 40, ab- 
sconded, etc. 
N. B. — Martin Ho- 
gan's marks include 
the letter D on his left 
side; so do those of 
Michael Harrington, 
Thomas Hassett, and 
James Wilson. 



April 18, 1876. 

Sir, — I beg to inform you that 
on the 17th instant the imperial 
convicts named in the margin 
absconded from the convict settle- 
men at Freemantle, in this colony, 
and escaped from the colony in the 
American whaling bark Catalpa, 
G. Anthony master. This bark is 
from New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
U. S. A. The convicts were taken 
from the shore in a whaleboat be- 
longing to the Catalpa, manned by 
Captain Anthony and six of the 
crew. The abettors were Collins, 
Jones, and Johnson. 

I attach the description of each 
of the absconders, and have to re- 
quest that you will be good enough 
to furnish me with any particulars 
you may be able to gather concern- 
ing them. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
M. A. Smith, Supt. of Police. 



To the Officer in charge of the Police Department, 
New Bedford, Massachusetts, U. S. A. 



It was addressed to "The Officer in charge of 
Police Department, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
United States, America." 



170 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Now Captain Henry C. Hathaway was at tins 
time chief of police, and in view of the fact that he 
had been rather intimately connected with the enter- 
prise, it may be believed that he was not unduly 
zealous in assisting the Australian authorities. 

The Catalpa, in charge of a pilot, sailed to New 
Bedford. The scene on her return was very differ- 
ent from that at her departure. She arrived at the 
old whaling port on the afternoon of August 24th. 
She was sighted as she came into the bay, and the 
news of her approach attracted thousands of people 
to the wharves. A salute of- seventy guns was fired 
as the bark sailed up the river, and when she was 
made fast to the dock, men and women swarmed 
aboard and carried away everything which was not 
too large for souvenirs. 

On the following evening a reception was tendered 
Captain Anthony at Liberty Hall, and the audi- 
torium was crowded with cheering, enthusiastic peo- 
ple. The stage was decorated with the American 
flag and the flag of Ireland. John McCuUough 
called the meeting to order, and the officers were as 
follows : — 

President. — Dr. Stephen W. Hayes. 

Vice-Presidents. — John McCullough, Michael 
F. Kennedy, Hugh J. McDonald, Neil Gallagher, 
John F. Edgerton, James Carroll, Jeremiah Dono- 
hue, Michael Murphy, John Sweeney, William Mor- 
rissey, Edmund Fogarty, James Clary, Michael F. 
McCullough, Antone L. Sylvia, Patrick Cannavan, 
James Sherry, John Agnew, John Welch. 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 171 

Secretaries. — Patrick Haley, Peter O'Connell, 
and John' Green. 

John Boyle O'Eeilly was present, and Captain 
Anthony was the guest of honor. Mr. Smith, the 
Catalpa's mate, and Thomas Hassett, one of the 
rescued men, were also present. 

Dr. Hayes expressed his gratitude that the politi- 
cal prisoners were now in the land of the free, where 
the flag which protected them on the Catalpa would 
continue to protect them as long as it waved. 

O'Eeilly's address on this occasion was one of his 
most eloquent efforts, and it is to be regretted that 
it is not preserved in its entirety. The summaries 
which were printed in the newspapers do him very 
inadequate justice. 

He said that it was with no ordinary feelings that 
he had come. He owed to New Bedford no ordi- 
nary debt, and he would gladly have come a thou- 
sand miles to do honor to New Bedford whalemen. 
Seven years of liberty, wife, children, and a happy 
home in a free country were his debt of gratitude, 
and when the close of his sentence came, in 1886, 
his debt to New Bedford might be grown too heavy 
to bear. 

They. were there, he said, to do honor to Captain 
Anthony, to show their gratitude to the man who 
had done a brave and wonderful deed. The self- 
sacrifice and unfailing devotion of him who had 
taken his life in his hand and beached his whaleboat 
on the penal colony, defying its fearful laws, defy- 
ing the gallows and the chain-gang, in order to keep 



172 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

faith with the men who had placed their trust in 
him, — this is almost beyond belief in our selfish and 
commonplace time. 

There were sides to this question worth looking 
at, he continued. To Irishmen it was significant in 
manifold ways, one of which was that these men, 
being soldiers, could not be left in prison without 
demoralizing the Irishmen in the English army, who 
would not forget that their comrades had been for- 
saken and left to die in confinement, when the civil- 
ian leaders of the movement had been set free. But 
the spirit that prompted their release was larger and 
nobler than this, and its beauty could be appreciated 
by all men, partaking as it did of the universal instinct 
of humanity to love their race and their native land. 

England said that the rescue was a lawless and 
disgraceful filibustering raid. Not so, said Mr. 
O'Beilly. If these men were criminals, the rescue 
would be criminal. But they were political ofi'enders 
against England, not against law, or order, or reli- 
gion. They had lain in prison for ten years, with 
millions of their countrymen asking their release, 
imploring England, against their will to beg, to set 
these men at liberty. Had England done so it 
would have partially disarmed Ireland. A generous 
act by England would be reciprocated instantly by 
millions of the warmest hearts in the world. But 
she was blind, as of old; blind and arrogant and 
cruel. She would not release the men ; she scorned 
to give Ireland an answer. She called the prisoners 
cowardly criminals, not political offenders. 



A COKDIAL RECEPTION 173 

After the ship sailed and there was a long time 
when no tidings came, O'Reilly said that doubts and 
fears came, as they were sure to do ; but Captain 
Hathaway said once and always of Captain Anthony : 
" The man who engaged to do this will keep that 
engagement, or he won't come out of the penal 
colony." 

After describing some of his own experiences in 
Australia, Mr. O'Reilly pointed to the bronzed and 
worn face of Mr. Hassett, one of the rescued prison- 
ers, and said : " Look at that man sitting there. Six 
years ago he escaped from his prison in the penal 
colony and fled into the bush, living there like a 
wild beast for a whole year, hunted from district to 
district, in a blind but manful attempt to win his 
liberty. When England said the rescue was illegal, 
America could answer, as the anti-slavery men an- 
swered when they attacked the Constitution, as Eng- 
land herself answered in the cause of Poland : ' We 
have acted from a higher law than your written con- 
stitution and treatise, — the law of God and human- 
ity.' It was in obedience to this supreme law that 
Captain Anthony rescued the prisoners, and pointed 
his finger at the Stars and Stripes, when the English 
commander threatened to fire on his ship. 

"The Irishman," concluded Mr. O'Reilly, '^who 
could forget what the Stars and Stripes have done 
for his countrymen deserves that in time of need 
that flag shall forget him." 

Then Mr. Hassett described the bravery of Cap- 
tain Anthony, and pictured him as he held the steer- 



174 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

ing oar on the night of the gale, risking his life for 
the men. He could never amply express his grati- 
tude to Captain Anthony, he said, and he was sure 
that New Bedford never produced a braver sailor. 

Meanwhile there were similar demonstrations 
throughout the country. At San Francisco a mass 
meeting of Irish citizens passed resolutions of sym- 
pathy for the prisoners and took steps for increasing 
the relief fund which had been started. 

The Robert Emmet Association of Troy, N. Y., 
fired a salute in honor of the safe arrival of the Ca- 
talpan six. At Woonsocket the wildest enthusiasm 
prevailed ; meetings were held and salutes fired. 
The Emmet Skirmishing Club of Sillery Cove, Que- 
bec, held a congratulatory meeting, and the Shamrock 
Benevolent Society of St. Louis, one of the largest 
Irish Catholic societies in the West, adopted resolu- 
tions of honor to Captain Anthony. 

The news of the rescue had been slow in reaching 
England, and as late as May 22 a debate was in 
progress in Parliament on the release of the political 
prisoners in Australia. Disraeli was the first lord 
of the Treasury, and he had been asked to advise 
her Majesty to extend her royal mercy to the pris- 
oners who were suffering punishment from offenses 
in breach of their allegiance. 

In a speech Disraeli said the men sent to Austra- 
lia were "at this moment enjoying a state of exist- 
ence which their friends in this house are quite 
prepared to accept." The Irish members shouted 
"No." But Mr. Disraeli was right and the Irish 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 175 

members were wrong, for the men were on the deck 
of an American vessel as he spoke, free from Eng- 
lish authority. 

On the morning after Disraeli's speech Boucicanlt 
wrote a letter to the "London Telegraph" which 
was read with much interest. He wrote : — 

The reply made by Mr. Disraeli last night to 
the 134 members who pleaded for the amnesty of 
the Irish prisoners should not be regarded as wholly 
unsatisfactory. His speech was in the gentle spirit 
of an apology, formed of excuses for the delay of 
the Government in acceding to the wishes of the 
people of Ireland. But the manner of this fluent 
and eloquent speaker was exceedingly hopeful. He 
hesitated, wandered, halted, lost his way, and turned 
about in distress. A leading member observed in 
my hearing that he had never seen him so confused. 
He said there were only fifteen prisoners ; that two 
of them could not be regarded as political offenders, 
because in the act of rebellion they had shed blood, 
and therefore were ordinary murderers. (He did 
not add they were no more entitled to consideration 
than Oliver Cromwell, whose statue graces the 
House.) Then turning to the thirteen prisoners — 
of these six were imprisoned in England and seven 
in Western Australia — these men, he assured the 
House, were so comfortable where they were, so 
happy, so well off, that really their liberation would 
be a misfortune to them, rather than a boon. 

It is a rule in literary composition that, when a 



176 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

substantive expresses vigorously the full scope and 
meaning of an idea, we weaken its effect by the 
addition of an adjective. So would any remark, or 
even a note of admiration detract from the rule of 
this astounding proposition. It should be left alone 
in a space of silence. The lameness and impotency 
of the speaker made an eloquent impression on the 
House, for the lameness seemed that of one who de- 
clined to trample on the prostrate, and the impotency 
was that of a kind and just man who could not find 
words to frame a cruel sentence. 

Your obedient servant, 



Dion Boucicault. 



London, May 23. 



The rescue was the subject of very savage com- 
ment in the English newspapers, and some of the 
editorials are reprinted in the Appendix. 

Invitations to attend various functions in honor 
of the rescue poured in upon Captain Anthony, and 
he found himself a hero with the Irish people 
throughout the world, a position in which he stands 
to-day, for the debt has never been forgotten. That 
the valiant deed still lives in the memory, it may 
be said that ten thousand people in Philadelphia 
greeted the captain last summer, on the occasion of 
the presentation to the Clan-na-Gael societies of the 
flag which flew over the Catalpa on the day when 
the British were defied. Here is the story printed 
in the "Philadelphia Times" on the date of August 
6, 1895 : — 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 177 

The green flag of Ireland, entwined with the Stars 
and Stripes, floated proudly over the main entrance 
to the E-ising Sun Park yesterday and gave greeting 
to ten thousand people who joined in the annual 
Clan-na-Gael celebration. The multitude came from 
all sections of the city, and all the surburban towns 
and the adjoining counties sent large contingents of 
Clan-na-Gael sympathizers. The management made 
every possible provision for the entertainment of 
those present, and spared neither expense nor time in 
making the celebration a success, giving big prizes 
to the field and track athletes from many sections 
of the Union and from Canada who took part in the 
sporting events. 

The grounds were decorated possibly on a more 
elaborate scale than on any former occasion. Ex- 
clusive of what the track and field provided in the 
way of amusement, there were pastimes for the 
younger and older folks, such as tenpin alleys, mer- 
ry-go-rounds, baseball, and swings. Thete were sev- 
eral bands of music, one for those who occupied 
seats on the pavilion from which the track and field 
sports could be seen, and two others on the dancing 
platform. 

" The great feature of the day's exercises, and that 
which attracted the most attention, were the intro- 
duction of Captain George S. Anthony and the pre- 
sentation by him to the Clan-na-Gaels of the flag 
which floated from the masthead of the whaling 
bark Catalpa, which had on board the political pris- 
oners rescued from the penal settlement of Western 



178 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

Australia, when it was overtaken by a British gun- 
boat. Captain Anthony presented the flag from a 
temporary platform erected on the tracks, and after 
it had been accepted in behalf of the Clan-na-Gael 
the scene was one of great enthusiasm. Luke 
Dillon, president of the Irish American Club, intro- 
duced Captain Anthony, and almost simultaneously 
the old Stars and Stripes were unfurled to the breeze 
and the band seated on the grand stand played the 
" Star-Spangled Banner.'^ About four thousand 
people joined in singing the anthem, and the Clan- 
na-Gael Guards fired two volleys as a salute. 

On the platform were seated State Senator James 
C. Vaughn, of Scranton ; Michael J. Breslin, a 
brother of John J. Breslin, who had charge of the 
land part of the Catalpa expedition ; Martin Hogan, 
of New York, Thomas Darragh, and Robert Cran- 
ston, three of the rescued prisoners ; Dr. William 
Carroll, William Francis E,oantree, John Devoy, 
J. J. Thompson, Major Fitzpatrick, of Trenton, 
N. J. ; Michael Gribbel, of Jersey City ; Bernard 
Masterson, Eugene Buckley, and Michael J. Gribble, 
of Pittsburgh. 

Captain Anthony, in presenting the flag, said : — 
" Twenty years ago you came to me with a re- 
quest to aid you in restoring to freedom some sol- 
diers of liberty confined in England's penal colony 
of Western Australia. Your story of their suffer- 
ings touched my heart, and I pledged my word as an 
American sailor to aid in the good work to the best 
of my ability. 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 179 

'^ You intrusted me with the command of the 
bark Catalpa. I took her to the West Australia 
coast, and when the gallant Breslin and his trusty- 
men had effected the rescue of their friends I 
brought the party safely in the ship's boat to the 
Catalpa and placed them on board under the shelter 
of the American flag. When on the high seas the 
commander of an armed British steamer fired a solid 
shot across the Catalpa's bows, demanded the sur- 
render of the rescued men, and threatened to blow 
out the masts of my vessel, if I failed to comply 
with his demands, I refused, and told the British 
commander that if he fired on the American flag on 
the high seas he must take the consequences. He 
then withdrew, and I took your friends to New 
York, where I landed them in safety. 

" The flag which floated over the Catalpa on that 
April day in 1876 — the Stars and Stripes which 
protected the liberated men and their rescuers — I 
have preserved and cherished for twenty years as a 
sacred relic. I would fain keep it and hand it 
down to my children as a family heirloom, but I 
am confident it will be safe in the keeping of those 
who were associated with me in an enterprise of 
which we have all reason to be proud. Your coun- 
trymen have ever been loyal to the flag of the 
United States and ever ready to shed their blood in 
its defense. I, therefore, present you with this flag 
of the Catalpa as a memento of our common share 
in a good work well done and a token of the sym- 
pathy of all true Americans with the cause of lib- 



180 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

erty in Ireland. I know you will cherish it as I 
do, and that if the interests of that flag should ever 
again demand it your countrymen will be among the 
first to rally to its defense/' 

When Captain Anthony finished his address he 
was the recipient of many beautiful bouquets. 

John Devoy, who had been delegated by the Clan- 
na-Gael to accept the colors, was unable to do so 
because of sickness, and Michael J. Ryan, who 
acted in his place, read the speech which Mr. Devoy 
had prepared : — 

" Captain Anthony, old friend and comrade, I 
accept this flag on behalf of the organization which 
fitted out the Catalpa, selected you as her commander, 
and which shared with you the credit for the work 
of humanity which she was the chief instrument in 
accomplishing. I accept it with pride as a memento 
of a noble deed, and I promise you it shall be cher- 
ished by us while life is left us, and handed down 
to future generations, who will love and cherish it 
as well. It is the flag of our adopted country, un- 
der which Irishmen have fought side by side with 
native Americans on every battlefield where the 
interests and the honor of that flag were at stake, 
from Bunker Hill to Appomattox. It is the flag 
which symbolizes the highest development of human 
liberty on this earth, and in the future, as in the 
past, the race to which we, to whom you present 
this flag, belong, will stand shoulder to shoulder 
with yours in its defense and in the maintenance of 
its proud and glorious record. 



A CORDIAL RECEPTION 181 

" You recall to our minds to-day memories of 
events in which native Americans and Irishmen 
were closely associated ; in which Irish enthusiasm 
and Yankee coolness, grit, and skill in seamanship 
effected a combination that won a decisive victory 
for humanity over the forces of oppression. The 
battle of human freedom has not yet been won, and 
the combination of which you formed such an im- 
portant part may serve as an example worthy of 
imitation and enlargement in the future. 

" Your part in that work was noble and disinter- 
ested throughout. I went to New Bedford twenty 
years ago, knowing not a soul in the city, bearing a 
letter of introduction from John Boyle O'Reilly to 
Henry C. Hathaway, who has done noble work in 
aiding the poet-patriot to escape from the Western 
Australian prison to the land of the free. He en- 
tered heartily into the project with which the Clan- 
na-Gael had intrusted me, and introduced me to 
you and your father-in-law, Mr. Richardson. With- 
out any promise of reward for your services, or com- 
pensation for the risks you would run, you undertook 
to carry out the work of liberation. You sailed 
away to the southern seas, you carried out the work 
you pledged yourself to accomplish, you incurred 
new risks which had not been asked of you, you 
defied the British commander who threatened to 
fire on the Stars and Stripes, and brought the six 
Irishmen rescued from a British prison in safety to 
America. In all this you bore yourself proudly 
and gallantly, like a true American sailor, and you 



182 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

placed the Irish people under heavy obligations to 
you. 

^^ Our chief regret to-day is that the man most 
closely associated with you in the rescue, John J. 
Breslin, the man who commanded the land force 
of the expedition, and to whose skill and courage 
its success was wholly due, is not here to receive 
this flag from your hands. As he has gone to his 
last account, the honor of taking his place has been 
assigned to me, although I was only concerned in 
the management of the American end of the enter- 
prise. Many of those who took part in the rescue 
and two of the men to whom you helped to give 
liberty are here to do you honor and to thank you 
in the name of the Irish race for the gallant feat 
you accomplished nineteen years ago and for your 
generous gift of this historic flag. Others still are 
in their graves, while some live too far away to par- 
ticipate in this day's proceedings, which recall an 
event of which we are all proud. 

*' Captain Anthony, in the name of the Clan-na- 
Gael, I thank you for the Catalpa's flag, and wish 
you a long and happy life.'' 



CHAPTER XXIX 

SETTLEMENT OF THE VOYAGE 

In February, 1877, Mr. Devoy, with James Rey- 
nolds, went to New Bedford and made a liberal 
settlement with the crew. An average was taken 
of the catch of oil by the vessels which sailed the 
same season with the Catalpa, several of which had 
made *' big cuts." The settlement with the men 
was on this basis. 

The Catalpa was presented to Captain Anthony, 
Mr. Richardson, and Henry C. Hathaway, but her 
value was not great. She was eventually sold and 
altered into a coal barge, coming to an ignominious 
end at Belize, British Honduras, where she was 
condemned. 

Captain Anthony's occupation was now gone, 
since it would be unsafe for him to enter an Eng- 
lish port. He was for a while an officer of the New 
Bedford police force, but was appointed an inspector 
in the New Bedford custom-house in President 
Cleveland's first term, a position which he has since 
held. 

Gallant John Breslin died in New York on No- 
vember 18, 1888, with the name of his country upon 
his lips. To the last he believed that revolution 
was the only remedy for Ireland's wrongs. The an- 



184 THE CATALPA EXPEDITION 

nouncement of his death drew tears from Irish eyes 
the world over, for his burning love of country, his 
chivalry and unparalleled bravery had touched the 
hearts of Erin's sons and daughters. Clan-na-Gael 
societies telegraphed their sorrow, and John Devoy 
and all the Cataipan leaders hastened to ISTew York 
to be present at the funeral exercises. 

^' Out of all the incidents of the so-called * Fenian 
movement/ " said the " Pilot/' " the most brilliantly 
daring have been two rescues of prisoners, namely, 
that of the chief organizer, James Stephens, from 
Richmond Prison, Dublin, in 1865, and of the six 
military prisoners from Western Australia last April. 
These two rescues are in many ways remarkable. 
Unlike almost every other enterprise of Penianism, 
they have been completely successful ; and when com- 
pleted have been commented on in the same way, as 
^ well done.' Every other attempt or proposal has 
fallen through or ended with loss. The rescue of 
Kelley and Deasy from the police van in Manchester 
was successful so far as the release of the prisoners 
went ; but it was bought with the lives of Allen, 
Larkin, and O'Brien, and the nine years' misery of 
Condon. The proposed attack on Chester Castle 
was discovered and prevented by the English gov- 
ernment. The seizure of Pigeon House Fort, with 
its armory, at Dublin, never emerged from the stage 
of dreamland. The attempt to blow up Clerkenwell 
Prison, London, to release Richard Burke, was a 
disastrous failure, by which nothing was accom- 
plished, by which many suffered, the lives of sev- 




JAMES REYNOLDS 
Treasurer of the Rescue Committee 



SETTLEMENT OF THE VOYAGE 185 

eral poor working people were sacrificed, and the 
wretched lodging-house homes of others destroyed. 

" But the rescue of James Stephens, even while 
the government was gloating over his capture, was 
as unexpected and thorough as if the man had van- 
ished in smoke. No one suffered from it, — at least 
from English law, — no one was arrested ; neither 
the government nor the public ever knew how or 
by whom it was accomplished. The man or men 
who did the work claimed no recompense either of 
money or notoriety. Two thousand pounds reward 
failed to elicit the slightest clew. The thing was 
cleverly, cleanly, bravely done, and those who knew 
of it knew how to keep the secret. 

"The rescue of the six military prisoners from 
the penal colony of West Australia was performed 
in a similar manner as to daring, silence, and com- 
plete success. Looking back on it, no one can say 
that aught was forgotten or left to chance. With 
admirable deliberation every inch of the train was 
laid, every sporadic interest was attended to, and 
the eventful rescue was carried out to the prear- 
ranged letter with scientific precision. As in the 
escape of Stephens, no trail remained ; no one left 
in the trap ; no price paid in human life or suffer- 
ing. It was a clean thing from beginning to end ; 
it was ' well done.^ " 

The total expense of the expedition was about 
$30,000, and a fund was raised in addition to give 
the rescued men a start in the new life which had 
been vouchsafed to them. 



APPENDIX 

[London Telegraph.'] 

Closely following upon the recent debate in the House 
of Commons on the Fenian prisoners, still held most justly 
in durance, come particulars from Western Australia of 
the escape of the half dozen jail-birds who, while they 
were in captivity, excited so much sympathy among Irish 
rebels and their abettors. Every Englishman knew that 
this sympathy was misplaced, and, as a matter of fact, it 
turns out that it was the very mildness of the captivity of 
the Hibernians in an Australian penal settlement which 
made their escape so easy. 

[After telling how the rescue was effected, the " Tele- 
graph" continued:] 

So the English cruiser had to return to Freemantle as 
empty as it left, and the skipper of the Catalpa, who was 
evidently, like most Yankee mariners, an accomplished 
sea lawyer, sailed off in triumph, laughing at our scrupu- 
lous obedience to international law. This is a humiliating 
result, and it is not easy to see who most deserves blame, 
— the sleepy warder who allowed all the men to give him 
the slip and sounded no alarm in time to overtake them 
on their long carriage drive, or the authorities at Rock- 
ingham, who permitted the Catalpa to get outside the 
territorial limit before stopping her. Nor is it clear what 
is the next step to be taken. If the American vessel took 
on board the convicts in Australia, that is in British 
waters, we presume that we can insist on their rendition 
and on redress in some shape for a violation of our sover- 
eignty. We can readily conceive what would have hap- 
pened if an English vessel in the harbor of say Norfolk, 



APPENDIX 187 

Va., had received Confederate prisoners on board, and had 
sailed off, daring pursuit or arrest. Thus our govern- 
ment may be excused for being firm and peremptory in 
calling attention to whatever violation of law the Yankee 
whaler may have committed. On the other hand, there is 
the consideration that the enterprising skipper of the 
Catalpa has, without meaning it, done us a good turn ; 
he has rid us of an expensive nuisance. The United 
States are welcome to any number of disloyal, turbulent, 
plotting conspirators, to all their silly machinations. If 
these are transferred to British soil, we shall know how 
to deal with them, — as we have shown already. 

[Melbourne Argus.'] 

The news from Western Australia confirms the suspi- 
cion that a grave international outrage was committed in 
the escape of the Fenian prisoners from Freemantle. 
They were actually taken away while wearing the convict 
garb by the master of an American ship, who dispatched 
a boat ashore for that purpose. It is impossible to sup- 
pose that a man did not know very well what he was do- 
ing, and his proceedings are precisely as if a French boat 
were to run to the hill of Portland and take away as 
many convicts from there as could crowd into her. The 
imperial authorities are bound to take cognizance of the 
episode, and to demand a substantial redress. We shall 
be told, no doubt, that the escaped convicts are political 
refugees, and attention may be called to the fact that 
Communist convicts frequently arrive in Australia without 
the permission of their gaolers. But the attempt at a par- 
allel will deceive no one. The Communists arrive here 
without any aid on our part. They build boats and take 
their chance, and if the Fenians had found their way to 
America, their case would be very different from what it 
is. Rochefort and his companions came over, it is true, 
in a British bark ; but, though the complicity of the cap- 
tain was suspected, it was never proved. But with the 



188 APPENDIX 

Catalpa there is evidence of a plot ; there is testimony 
that the American master took his boat to an unsuspected 
spot, and that he made special exertions to ship the men. 
The ship was on the high seas, it is true, and outside of 
British jurisdiction, but the master and his boat went to 
the shore, and for a felonious purpose, and that constitutes 
the breach of the law of nations. The offense is too seri- 
ous, too glaring, to be overlooked, and we presume that 
important communications will speedily pass between the 
governments of Westminster and Washington. 

[Melhourne Advocate.'] 

The correspondence will be voluminous, but very cour- 
teous on both sides, and, after being long drawn out, it 
will terminate in friendly assurances ; for it would never 
do that first cousins, bound together by common interests, 
and in whose hands the great destinies of the English- 
speaking race rest, should seriously quarrel over the fate 
of a half dozen unfortunate Irishmen. The Slidell and 
Mason business was a little more serious, and there was 
no quarrel over it. The cabinet of W^estminster will have 
a strong case for Washington in this Fenian business, but 
Washington is not without a ease against Westminster ; 
for its demand for the unconditional extradition of an 
American criminal has been refused by the English gov- 
ernment. Washington, besides, will be apt to say that 
these escaped Fenians were political prisoners, and though 
Great Britain may maintain the contrary, European opin- 
ion will be decidedly against her view of the case. Some- 
thing will also be said about Communist convicts being 
sheltered on British soil, and after all that can be urged 
on each side has been said, the whole affair will taper 
down to an indivisible and invisible point, or, to use a 
more homely phrase, it will end in smoke. 



APPENDIX 189 



THE RESCUED PRISONERS 

On the 12th inst., William Foley, one of the Irish po- 
litical prisoners recently confined in Western Australia, 
arrived in New York from Queenstown, on the steamship 
Wisconsin. When the news of the escape of the prisoners 
came last week, it was thought that Foley was among the 
number, but it now appears that his sentence expired last 
January, and he sailed from Perth, Western Australia, 
on the 16th of that month for London. From London he 
proceeded to Dublin, and after spending a fortnight there 
went to his home in Tipperary, but finding none of his 
friends there except one uncle, a very old man, he went 
to Cork, where he remained about ten days, when he 
started for New York. The following is the substance of 
Foley's story, given to a " New York Herald " reporter 
by the gentleman who received it : — 

Toward the end of last November two gentlemen ar- 
rived in Western Australia, and, knowing the means, at 
once placed themselves in communication with the pris- 
oners, and commenced to thoroughly survey the ground 
on which they were to work. Foley, being on ticket-of- 
leave at the time, and having just got out of the hospital, 
where he had been suffering from heart disease, was in- 
troduced to one of them by a friend, and on the stranger 
giving certain information which showed what his mission 
was, an understanding was arrived at. A great deal of 
delicate work had to be done, and every precaution taken 
to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities, but 
up to the last moment of Foley's stay in the colony not 
the least suspicion was aroused. The two agents each 
followed a legitimate occupation, and acted in every way 
as if going to make their home in Western Australia, or 
bent solely on making lasting business connections with 
the colony, and so discreet were their movements and 
conduct that no one dreamed that they were anything but 



190 APPENDIX 

what they appeared to be. " I asked no questions," said 
Foley, " and they told me nothing which I had not a right 
to know." 

Toward the close of the spring of last year all the 
prisoners not on ticket-of-leave, and two of the men who 
had tickets-of-leave, were sent in from the various 
gangs in which they had been working through the 
bush and lodged in the principal convict station at Free- 
mantle. Their names were James Wilson, Martm Hogan, 
Thomas Hassett, Thomas Darragh, Michael Harring- 
ton, Robert Cranston, and James Kelley, life-sentenced 
men, and Thomas Delaney and James McCoy, whose 
tickets-of-leave were revoked. These were all, with the 
exception of Wilson, engaged in constructing a reservoir 
within the prison of Freemantle, which is situated on the 
hill, intended to supply water to the shipping in the har- 
bor. Wilson was training a horse for the doctor of the 
prison, and this employment enabled him to go out of the 
prison several times each day, and gave him many facili- 
ties for perfecting the plan of escape. Many disappoint- 
ments occurred, however, owing to unforeseen accidents, 
and one golden opportunity was lost through failing to 
connect with a certain ship. The ability of the agents 
was tested to the utmost and the patience of the expect- 
ant prisoners was sorely tried. Still nothing occurred to 
arouse the suspicion of the prison officials and no one 
connected with the attempt lost heart. Two days before 
Foley took his departure he had an interview with 
Wilson, and on the former asking him how he should 
correspond with him, Wilson said, " Don't write to us any 
more ; I am confident we shall all follow you soon." 
When taking his leave two days later neither could 
speak, but could only exchange a silent but hearty shake 
of the hand. This was on January 16. Foley took his 
passage on a sailing vessel for London, and after a voyage 
of ninety-four days arrived in that city. 

Though he could not feel sure that all had escaped, 



APPENDIX 191 

Foley expressed the greatest confidence in the safety of 
those who had got on board the American ship. The 
Georgette, which was sent in pursuit of the Catalpa, ac- 
cording to the statements of the Sydney papers, tele- 
graphed here from San Francisco, is only a small screw 
steamer, built on the Clyde, about two hundred tons 
burthen, which is employed in carrying the mails from 
Champion Bay, the most northern settlement in West 
Australia, to King George's Sound, which is the most 
southerly point at which vessels call in the same colony, 
and she is manned by only ten men at the most, — ordi- 
nary sailors who never saw any service. In Perth and 
Freemantle there are not more than thirty policemen at 
any time, and if all of these went on board the Georgette 
the released soldiers and their friends could make short 
work of them in a hand-to-hand fight. The only artillery 
in the colony is in Perth — four old nine-pounders belong- 
ing to a company of volunteers, the members of which 
live scattered through the surrounding country and could 
not be got together at a short notice. There are about 
forty retired soldiers living in the neighborhood of Perth, 
but they are all old men, and could not be collected at 
any shorter notice than the volunteers. 

It would take some time to unlimber the guns, get the 
Georgette ready and prepare for a pursuit, and the point 
on the coast selected for a rendezvous, according to ar- 
rangements made previous to Foley's departure, is about 
twenty-five miles from Freemantle. Everything consid- 
ered, it would take several days to enable the Georgette 
to start in pursuit, and by that time the Catalpa, or any 
other vessel on which they might be, would be beyond 
her reach. Then the Georgette could not be provisioned 
for a long cruise, nor could the police force nor the pen- 
sioners be spared from the colony for any length of time, 
and there was no ship of war at all in the neighborhood. 
Altogether the chances of the recapture of the prisoners 
by the Georgette appear to be very remote, even if she 



192 APPENDIX 

would risk boarding an American ship on the high seas. 
Boats had been already secured when Foley left, to ac- 
commodate all the prisoners and convey them out to sea 
so that they might not get on board any ship in British 
waters. " The news," said Foley, " seems too good to be 
true ; it is so short a time since I saw them within the 
prison walls, and all I can say is, God speed them on their 
way, and may God bless the Yankee captain who took 
them aboard." 

Foley is thirty-eight years of age, and enlisted in 1853 
in the Bombay Horse Artillery, under the East India 
Company, and served all through the Sepoy rebellion. 
In 1859 he returned to England, and soon after reen- 
listed in the Fifth Dragoon Guards, in which regiment he 
remained until his arrest for Fenianism in February, 
1866. He is a simple, quiet man, but known by his com- 
rades to be a man of indomitable courage. Before his 
imprisonment he was a man of magnificent physique, be- 
ing six feet in height and splendidly proportioned. At 
present he is reduced considerably, through the terrible 
ordeal through which he has passed, and very little of 
that soldier's strut so characteristic of British cavalrymen 
can be noticed in him. — Pilot, June 24, 1876. 



CAPTAIN ANTHONY OF THE CATALPA 

The remarkable story printed in this week's " Pilot," 
from the pen of the chief agent in the rescue of the pris- 
oners, makes it clear that the captain of the whaling bark 
Catalpa is a man of extraordinary nerve and integrity. 
Captain George S. Anthony is a young man, scarcely 
thirty years of age; a silent, unassuming sailor. There 
is nothing in his appearance, except, perhaps, the steadi- 
ness of the deeply-sunken dark eye, to tell that in a 
moment of pending danger that would frighten brave 
men this one would take his life in his hand, and, with 



APPENDIX 193 

his usual quiet air, steer into the very jaws of destruc- 
tion. 

When the Catalpa lay off the coast of the penal colony, 
at the appointed place for the rescue, Captain Anthony 
did not, as he might have done, send one of his officers in 
command of the boat that was to land on the dangerous 
coast. With a picked crew of his whalemen, the captain 
took the steering-oar himself. When he had reached the 
shore, a man who had been watching the incoming boat 
informed him that he had passed over a terrible danger ; 
that right in the line he had crossed lay a fatal reef, over 
which no boat had ever before sailed in safety. Had this 
information not been given, it is almost certain that the 
entire boat's crew, with the rescued prisoners, would have 
been lost, for Captain Anthony would certainly have sailed 
out as he had entered, and in that event the bones of the 
brave fellows would now be whitening on the ledges of 
the reef. When the escaped prisoners arrived, and the 
frail boat again put to sea, the firm hand of the captain 
still held the steering-oar. The night came down, the 
wind rose, and the water lashed over the deep-laden boat. 
They could not see the ship's lights, but steered blindly 
into the darkness. There was no choice of roads. Be- 
hind them was the chain-gang for the rescuers and the 
gallows for the absconders. The morning came, and the 
drenched and weary men, instead of a bark, saw a gun- 
boat in pursuit. They were grateful then for the rising 
waves, in the troughs of which their little boat escaped 
the watchful eyes of the pursuit. The trained skill of the 
seaman was here invaluable. He knew that a boat might 
escape being seen from the deck of a ship, though only a 
short distance away. He lowered his sail, and got into 
the wake of the gunboat, the point where they would be 
least likely to look. And when the gunboat steamed 
away, and the smaller police-cutter hove in sight and bore 
straight down on the whaleboat, trying to cut them off 
from the ship. Captain Anthony shouted encouragement 



194 APPENDIX 

to his tired men, calling them by name, using all the 
whaleman's arts to urge his hands in the last spurt before 
the whale is struck — till he saw that they had distanced 
the cutter by a few terrible yards, and were safe along- 
side the Catalpa. For thirty hours Captain Anthony had 
held the steering-oar of his whaleboat. 

It is a splendid story of endurance and devotion to duty. 
The brave man had undertaken to rescue these prisoners, 
and he held to his engagement with a manly faith that 
neither danger nor death could appall. To the rescued he 
was not bound by ties of race or nationality; but he knew 
they were political prisoners, cruelly held in bondage; 
and the seaman's heart, made generous by intercourse 
with foreign lands, felt deeply the bond of humanity, 
regardless of Celtic or Anglo-Saxon promptings. 

It must not be forgotten that by this achievement Cap- 
tain Anthony has destroyed his career as a whaleman. 
He has placed himself beyond the pale of every British 
harbor in the world. He can no more follow his profes- 
sion in the South Sea or in the Indian Ocean, for nearly 
every port at which the whaleships get supplies are pos- 
sessions of the British Crown. By this one act, done for 
Irishmen, Captain Anthony has literally thrown away the 
years and experience that have made him one of the best 
whalemen in New Bedford. 

The Irish people of America should not forget this, nor 
allow such a debt to remain against their name. Cap- 
tain Anthony should get such a testimonial as 
will put him beyond the necessity of ever going 
TO SEA AGAIN. Unless this be done, the brave man has 
ruined his future in the interests of a selfish and ungrate- 
ful people. If the masses of our people would contribute 
each a mite — ten cents apiece — enough would be done. 
At the meetings of Irish societies throughout the country, 
subscriptions of this kind might be raised ; and local 
treasurers could be appointed to receive contributions. 
All subscriptions sent to " The Pilot " will be acknow- 



APPENDIX 195 

ledged. There is not an Irish man or woman in America 
who could not give something, no matter how small, to 
such an object ; and we trust that no time will be lost in 
setting the movement in practical operation. — Pilots 
September 2, 1876. 



ESCAPE OF THE lEISH PRISONERS 

. . . Business was almost entirely suspended, and the 
imposing Masonic ceremony of laying the foundation 
stone of the new Freemasons' Hall, which was to take 
place at four o'clock, was almost forgotten, and attracted 
but little if any attention. In the course of the after- 
noon, His Excellency, accompanied by the Colonial Secre- 
tary, drove down, and after consultation with the Super- 
intendent of Water Police, the Comptroller-General, and 
other officials, and the agent for the Georgette, it was 
decided to dispatch the Georgette again to the Catalpa, 
with a view to intercept the boat, or to demand the sur- 
render of the prisoners from the captain, if they were on 
board. The pensioners and police were again embarked, 
a twelve-pounder field-piece was shipped and fixed in the 
gangway ; provisions were put on board, and a fatigue- 
party of pensioners were engaged in coaling — thirty tons 
being put on board in a short time. By eleven o'clock 
arrangements were completed, and the Georgette steamed 
away from the jetty. Not a few, both on board and on 
shore, but gave way to gloomy forebodings as to the 
result of this second visit to the ship. Certainly, the 
arrangements made by the authorities warranted those 
who were not acquainted with international law, or 
aware of his excellency's instructions, in concluding that 
the governor had determined upon resorting to force, if 
necessary, to capture the fugitives. By early morning 
the Georgette was outside of Rottnest, and at daylight 
sighted the ship bearing S. S. E. under full sail. The 



196 APPENDIX 

Georgette hereupon hoisted her pennant and the ensign, 
and all hands were put under arms. As the Georgette did 
not gain upon the ship, and the wind was freshening, a gun 
was fired under the vessel's stern, — and she then run up 
the American flag. She took no further notice of the 
signal, and the Georgette, under full steam and all sail, 
gave chase. As the ship did not attempt to shorten sail 
or take any notice of the signal, when the Georgette had 
steamed to within a quarter of a mile of her a gun was 
fired across her bow, and the captain of the ship then got 
into the quarter-boat. ... 

WHAT THE AUSTRALIAN PRESS SAYS 

The comments of the Western Australian papers will 
be interesting to the readers of " The Pilot." " The 
Perth Inquirer " of the 26th of April says : " It seems 
humiliating that a Yankee with a half dozen colored men 
should be able to come into our waters and carry off six 
of the most determined of the Fenian convicts, — all of 
them military prisoners, — and then to laugh at us for 
allowing them to be taken away without an effort to 
secure them. But international law must be observed, 
and, doubtless, the Home Government will seek and ob- 
tain redress for this outrage. It is evident that Collins 
came to this colony with ample means as the agent of the 
American Fenian Brotherhood, and that Jones, Johnson, 
and Taylor were co-workers in furthering the escape of 
the prisoners. Immediately the Catalpa arrived in Bun- 
bury, Collins proceeded there, and doubtless interviewed 
Captain Anthony, who shortly afterwards came to Free- 
mantle under the plea of securing fresh charts, but in 
reality to reconnoitre the coast. The Catalpa appears to 
have cleared out of Bunbury on the 28th of March, when 
a ticket-of-leave man named Smith was found stowed 
away and taken by the police. She must have returned 
to Bunbury, and again cleared out finally on the 15th in- 
stant. It would appear that there was a desire to obtain 



APPENDIX 197 

correct legal information on international law, for about 
the time of Captain Anthony's visit to Freemantle, John- 
son called upon Mr. Howell, the solicitor in Perth, and 
asked several questions as to the limit of neutral waters, 
from which we infer that the captain knew what he was 
about when he told Mr. Stone that his flag protected him 
where he then was." 

TOO BAD TO BE LAUGHED AT BY THE YANKEES 

The " Freemantle Herald," of April 22, said : — 
" The early return of the steamer gave rise to every 
kind of conjecture, and as her approach was watched 
from the shore, wagers were freely made as to the cause 
of her early return. Many declared that the Catalpa, 
warned of the steps the governor was taking by the pre- 
vious visit of the Georgette, had attacked her and beaten 
her off. Others laid bets that, overawed by the determi- 
nation of force on board the Georgette, the captain of the 
Catalpa had quietly surrendered the runaways. As is 
usual in such cases, the sequel showed that neither was 
right. When the true condition of affairs became known, 
there were some manifestations of indignation at the col- 
ony having been fooled by a Yankee skipper. The pen- 
sioners and police felt that they had been taking part in 
a very silly farce, and had been laughed at by the Yankees 
at sea and the public on shore, and sincerely hoped that 
instructions would be given to go out again and take the 
prisoners by force. The governor, however, who through- 
out had acted with most commendable energy and pru- 
dence, was not to be led into committing a breach of 
international law to gratify a feeling of resentment at 
the cool effrontery of the Yankee, directed that the armed 
parties on board the Georgette should be dismissed, and 
the vessel returned to the agent, with his excellency's 
thanks for the readiness with which the vessel had been 
placed at his disposal, and for the hearty manner in which 
both the agent, Mr. McCleery, the captain, Mr. M. 



198 APPENDIX 

O'Grady, and all concerned, had cooperated with him in 
the matter ; at the same time expressing his approbation 
of the conduct of Mr. Stone. These instructions were 
carried out, and in a short time the crowds dispersed, and 
the town elapsed into its normal condition of quietude, 
having suffered three days of the most intense excitement 
ever experienced in its history." — Pilot, August 12, 1876. 



HOW THE IRISH PRISONERS ESCAPED 

The following letter has been received by Mrs. O'Reilly, 
John Street, Kilkenny, from her son, Rev. John O'Reilly, 
who is at present in Freemantle, Western Australia. Fa- 
ther O'Reilly, following in the footsteps of many ardent 
young missionaries, left home and friends to pursue his 
sacred calling in the region of the Southern Cross. We 
can easily understand what his feelings were when the 
mail steamer returned to her moorings after her fruitless 
pursuit of the whaler bearing away the escaped prison- 
ers : — 

Freemantle, W. A., April 18, 1876. 

My dear Mother, — You owe to the accidental de- 
tention of the mail steamer the letter which I am now 
writing. The cause of the delay is an event which will 
probably excite so much attention in the Old Country and 
America, that it will form the principal if not the sole 
topic of my note. 

You are aware before now that Western Australia is a 
convict colony. Hither were sent some seven or eight 
years ago a number of the prisoners sentenced to penal 
servitude on the occasion of the Fenian disturbances a 
little before that date. These were gradually released, 
and at the beginning of the present month only eight re- 
mained in confinement in Western Australia. All eight 
had been soldiers. The prisoners of the establishment 
work in various gangs throughout the town, and the 



APPENDIX 199 

Fenians were distributed at different points with the rest. 
Amongst the prisoners some are chosen to fill offices of 
trust in connection with the prison arrangements, and are 
called constables. One of the Fenians was a constable, 
and by delivering pretended orders to the warders in 
charge of the working parties, he was enabled to get six 
of the Fenians together when occasion required. 

The occasion came yesterday. At nine o'clock he with- 
drew these whom he required from under the warders in 
charge. The six prisoners assembled at a spot just out- 
side Freemantle. Two carriages, with two horses each, 
were in readiness. They got in, and away they go. 

I must retrace my steps a little. Towards the end of 
last year a gentleman represented as from one of the 
neighboring colonies arrived here. He put up at the 
best hotel at the port, and has since mixed with the best 
society. He went by the name of Mr. Collins. His busi- 
ness here was always an enigma to the residents, but it 
was supposed by some that he had come here with a 
view of seeing his way to the opening of some business. 
Another person lately arrived here too, named Jones, a 
Yankee ; but as he worked at a trade no one noticed him. 
Now it appears these two persons were the chief actors 
in the plot. They arranged the details of the flight, and 
awaited the fugitives with carriages at the place of ren- 
dezvous yesterday. 

The party drove to a spot sixteen miles or so from 
Freemantle, where they were seen to enter a boat evi- 
dently belonging to a whaler in the offing. 

Yesterday, port and metropolis were in a state of in- 
tense excitement. The government chartered an only 
steamer, a peaceful mail boat, put on board a guard of 
pensioners and police, — we have no soldiers in the colony, 
— and sent it in pursuit. A little before the steamer an 
open boat manned with water police had started on the 
trail of the runaways. 

To-day, at four, the steamer returned. A crowd had 



200 APPENDIX 

assembled on the jetty to see her come in ; I was amongst 
the number; she did not bring the prisoners; she reported 
having been alongside the whaler. The captain and one 
boat's crew were absent. The authorities in the steamer 
requested to go on board, but were refused permission. 
As the vessel lay in neutral waters, they could not use 
force to attain their desires. 

The water police boat is still in chase of the missing 
ship's boat, but I doubt if they will come up with her. 
Under cover of the darkness of the night — and it threat- 
ens to be dark indeed — the absent crew, with the fugi- 
tives, will make the ship ; and even if the police crew 
found them, and there was a fight, as there would be 
pretty sure to be, if a forced capture were attempted, it 
is very doubtful who would be the victors. Against the 
fifteen water police, there would be the six prisoners, 
their two accomplices, and the boat's crew. 

The whistle is sounding its warning, and my letter must 
hurry to the post. With kindest love to all, believe me, 
Your affectionate son, J. O'Reilly. 

— Pilot, June 24, 1876. 



THE ESCAPE OF THE POLITICAL PRISONERS 

*' There was a torchlight procession in Dublin on Satur- 
day night, June 10, in celebration of the escape of the 
political convicts from West Australia, and Disraeli was 
burned in effigjr." So runs the latest telegram from Ire- 
land, and the news is fully significant. Ireland knows 
the meaning of the escape, and will act on it. It was 
planned and carried out by her sons in America; and 
this fact will intensify the national spirit of the Old Coun- 
try, and make her feel that she is beginning to reap the 
harvest of her motherhood. 

The first news of the escape of the Irish prisoners 
appeared last week in the following dispatch : — 



APPENDIX 201 

" London, June 6. A dispatch from Melbourne, Aus- 
tralia, states that all the political prisoners confined iu 
Western Australia have escaped on the American whale- 
ship Catalpa." 

About the same time the SS. Colima from Sydney, 
Australia, reached San Francisco with news to the same 
effect, but adding that the ocean cable from Australia to 
Java had been cut on April 27, immediately before the 
escape. 

Two weeks ago the English Prime Minister scornfully 
refused to release those prisoners at the earnest request 
of Ireland. It was in his hands then to render this escape 
meaningless, and to make Irishmen believe that they had 
better wait for the slow course of English justice. But 
the old spirit of domineering insolence was too strong in 
the British House of Commons. To show mercy to Ire- 
land would be a confession of weakness ; they determined 
to refuse the Irish petition, and at their own haughty 
will select the time to release the prisoners. 

But Ireland has had satisfaction this time. At the 
moment that Disraeli was jauntily telling the House that 
he would not release the prisoners, they were on board a 
Yankee ship, free as air, thousands of miles from an 
English chain or an English dungeon. Ireland laughs 
at England at home ; and all America joins in our jeer 
across the Atlantic. 

It is the beginning of a new order of things in Irish 
national movements. Heretofore England could buy in- 
formers and perpetuate the distrust of each other which 
has been the curse of Irishmen. The reins of agitation 
have been too often given into inferior hands, and infe- 
rior intelligence has too long dominated Irish councils. 

The escape of the prisoners from Western Australia is 
the best proof that Irishmen can manage the most dan- 
gerous and difficult enterprises, and keep their own coun- 
sel in a way unknown almost to any other nation. The 
plan of this escape was completed nearly two years ago. 



202 APPENDIX 

Every portion of the gigantic scheme was worked out in 
the United States. The machinery was set in motion 
here, eighteen months ago, which recently struck such an 
alarming note in the penal colony. When the freed men 
are landed safe in America or some other country, the 
plan of the escape may be published. Until then we 
shall only say that nothing was left to chance, that no ex- 
pense was spared, and that brave men were ready to risk 
liberty and life itself to make the attempt a success. 

To one devoted man, more than to any other, the whole 
affair is creditable. He it was who, with the pitiful 
letters received from the prisoners in his hand, excited the 
sympathy of Irish conventions and individual men. Pie 
neglected his business in New York to attend to the pris- 
oners. He told those who helped the object that they 
would have to trust him, that the secret must not be 
generally known. They did trust him, for they had 
reason to know his purity as a patriot. The event proves 
the truth and devotedness of the man. We have asked 
\_- him for permission to publish his name ; but he will not 

allow us till the men are absolutely safe. To another 
man, an American friend, the gratitude of the Irish peo- 
ple is also due. 

These outlines are not imaginative, but real. We have 
been acquainted with the plan since its inception ; and of 
late have been anxiously watching for the good news. 

There was never an enterprise so large and so terribly 
dangerous carried out more admirably. It will be re- 
I membered of Irish patriots that they never forget their 
suffering brothers. The prisoners who have escaped are 
humble men, most of them private soldiers. But the 
PRINCIPLE was at stake — and for this they have been 
released. England will now begin to realize that she 
has made a mistake that will follow her to her death- 
bed, in making Ireland so implacable and daring an 
enemy. This is only an earnest of what will come when 
the clouds of war are over her. The men who sent the 




A CARTOON FROM THE IRISH WORLD, SEPTEMBER 2, 1876 



APPENDIX 203 

Catalpa to Australia are just the men to send out a hun- 
dred Catalpas to wipe British commerce from the face of 
the sea. — Pilot, June 17, 1876. 



LESSONS FROM THE PRISONERS' ESCAPE 

The well-planned and boldly executed rescue of the 
Irish political prisoners from the penal colony of Western 
Australia contains lessons worth noting by those who de- 
sire to perpetuate Irish nationality. A nation that culti- 
vates the evil weed of Distrust will never become strong 
or great. Cohesion is the principle of power, and the peo- 
ple that cannot stand by each other for a common cause, 
under common leaders, are no stronger than a ball of 
sand, to be scattered at a touch. 

Heretofore the curse of Ireland has been the impossi- 
bility of union. Party hated party ; class distrusted 
class. Rich men were called traitors because they, hav- 
ing something to lose, refused to enter on every wild plan 
of revolution without considering the probabilities. Poor 
men were too easily led by demagogues. The man who 
spake loudest, who boasted most, became the idol of the 
hour. When the opportunity offered, he sold the people 
he had so easily deceived, and scorned them for their 
credulity. There are plenty of " successful men " of this 
class — such as Judge Keogh, who a few years ago called 
God to witness that he would never desert the People's 
Cause, but who, when made a judge, was the first to 
lay a ruthless hand and an insulting tongue on the religion 
and nationality of his country. 

With such an experience Irishmen have grown distrust- 
ful to such a degree that the danger from their doubt is 
greater than from their deception. Better a thousand 
times to be deceived than to lose faith in your brother's 
honesty and patriotism. 

The CURE of this national disease is coming — for the 



204 APPENDIX 

CAUSE of it is plain. Distrust has grown from disap- 
pointment ; and this has been the result of a bad selec- 
tion of men. Ireland has hitherto trusted the talkers 
rather than the doers. She has given her vote to the 
noisy demagogues who tickled her ear, and has turned 
from the men who appealed to her common-sense. For 
twenty-five years past — with the exception of the abor- 
tive Fenian movement — the Irish people have acted as 
if green flags, denunciation of England, and poetic sun- 
burstry were enough to establish Ireland's claim to na- 
tional independence. 

We trust and believe that a change for the better is 
coming. Ireland is beginning to see that the men who 
are able to do something for themselves, the men of 
judgment and prevision in their own affairs, are likely to 
bring the best intelligence into national deliberations. 
Hereafter it will not be a recommendation for an Irish 
politician that he has failed to make a decent living at 
everything else. 

The rescue of the political prisoners proves that the 
Irishmen who talk least can do most. It proves also 
that distrust is not chronic in the Irish people — that 
they can stake great issues on the faith of single men 
— when they have selected them for their capacity and 
intelligence instead of their braggadocio. 

Another and most valuable lesson from the rescue has 
a bearing on the English army. The thousands of Irish- 
men in the ranks knew that those men were kept in 
prison because they had been soldiers. It seemed, 
too, for two or three years past, that those men had 
been forgotten. The leaders of the movement were 
free ; and no one seemed to care for the poor fellows 
whose very names were unknown. The soldiers in the 
army knew that of all the Irish prisoners of ^66 and '67, 
there were none who risked more or who would have 
been more valuable than a trained dragoon, the indispen- 
sable artilleryman, and the steady linesman. To see their 



APPENDIX 205 

comrades forgotten and left to rot in their dungeons was 
enough to make the Irishmen of the army abjure their 
nationality and accept the English dominion in Ireland, 

This has been averted by the rescue. The soldiers in 
the English army will read the news with a deeper thrill 
than any other Irishmen. It has a larger meaning to 
them than to others. " Now," they will say, " now, 
at last, we are a part of the Irish people. Our red coats 
do not separate us from our countrymen ; and if we 
suffer for their cause they will be true as steel to us in 
the day of trial." 

It is full time that Irish nationality should take intelli- 
gent position. All shades of Irish politics can agree in 
mutual respect ; they are all shades of green. One party 
may desire more than another, and believe it possible of 
attainment. But they should not hate the others that 
think differently. The Home Rulers are as honest as the 
Fenians, and as intelligent. One should say to the other : 
" We travel the same road ; but when you stop, we 
go farther. If we succeed, you can join us ; if we fail, 
we shall return to you for support." This is true nation- 
ality ; and when this spirit grows among the Irish people, 
there cannot be a doubt of the result. — Pilot, June 24, 
1876. 

THE RESCUED PRISONERS 

GRAND RECEPTION IN BOSTON 

On the 1st inst., a grand entertainment was given in 
Music Hall for the benefit of the released prisoners, who 
were present. The immense hall was crowded ; nearly 
every seat on floor and galleries was filled. The stage 
was fitted up with a handsome proscenium, the Shell Lit- 
erary Institute playing the patriotic drama of Robert 
Emmet. The greatest credit is due to the management 
committee. Polite ushers were in attendance, and not 
the least hitch occurred in the whole evening's entertain- 



206 APPENDIX 

ment. The address was delivered by John E. Fitzgerald, 
Esq., who was greeted with thundering applause. He 
pictured in graphic words the condition of Ireland for 
centuries ; while Poland and other struggling nationalities 
had been wiped from the map, the intense individualism 
of the Irish as a nation had preserved them. The move- 
ment for which these gallant fellows had suffered was the 
embodiment of the national idea. (Applause.) 

The more pacific and undefinable agitation known as 
the Home Rule movement was by no means final — as 
England well knew. In was a step toward something 
fuller, — toward the only consummation that will ever 
satisfy Irishmen, — complete separation. (Great ap- 
plause.) The sentiment of Henry Grattan was still vivid, 
— that no one but the Irish people had a right to legislate 
for Ireland. Mr. Fitzgerald dwelt eloquently on the 
devotion of the Nationalists to their imprisoned brethren. 
He spoke in the highest praise of the efforts of those by 
whom this last brilliant exploit was accomplished with so 
much wisdom and secrecy. He said that the sum of 
$30,000 had been contributed in this country in its aid, 
and though the object of the contribution was so widely 
known, the secrecy was maintained until its accomplish- 
ment. He hoped that a generous and substantial testi- 
monial would be presented to Captain Anthony, the brave 
man who had risked and accomplished so much in their 
behalf. Mr. A. O'Dowd recited Meagher's " Sword 
Speech " in impressive style. A song, " Caed Mille 
Failthe," by Mr. E. Fitzwilliam, was sung by the com- 
poser, and pleased the audience so well that an encore 
was given, in response to which Mr. Fitzwilliam sang 
another of his compositions, entitled, " The Irishman's 
Version of One Hundred Years Ago," which was also 
generously applauded. Miss Annie Irish, a well-known 
vocalist, sang two songs in acceptable style ; and Mr. 
Sheehan, who was warmly received, received an encore, 
to which he responded in his usual excellent manner. 



APPENDIX 207 

The drama by the Sheil Literary Institute was, as 
usual with that body, well played, and gave great pleas- 
ure to the immense and patriotic audience. Before its 
performance there were loud requests for " Captain An- 
thony " to come forward, but that brave fellow, who sat 
in the audience with Captain Hathaway, of New Bedford, 
was too modest to make his appearance. 

At the close of the drama the demand for the appear- 
ance of the rescued prisoners was imperious, and had to 
be gratified, though it was intended by the committee 
that the men should not be paraded. But the call was so 
strong and kindly that the bronzed men appeared on the 
stage, and were introduced by Mr. Fitzgerald. The 
greeting they received will never be forgotten. It was 
plain how deep a chord their suffering and escape has 
struck in the Irish heart. They numbered six, though 
Mr. Wilson, one of the rescued men, was not present ; 
his place was filled by Mr. William Foley, the ex-prisoner 
who arrived in this country about two months ago. 

The entertainment was a complete success ; and, be- 
sides its value as a patriotic safety-valve, it will add a 
considerable sum to the testimonial to be presented to the 
ex-prisoners, to enable them to begin life in this new 
country under fair circumstances. — Pilot, September 9, 
1876. 



THE RESCUED PRISONERS 

RECEPTION TO JOHN J. BRESLIN 

A large audience assembled in Boston Theatre on the 
evening of Sunday, the 24th inst., to tender a public 
reception to Mr. John J. Breslin, the chief agent in the 
rescue of the Fenian prisoners from Australia. The 
reception was under the management of the United Irish 
Brotherhood, and the committee of arrangements de- 
serves the greatest credit. 



208 APPENDIX 

Charles F. Donnelly, Esq., presided on the occasion, 
and among others on the platform were Captain Anthony, 
City Marshal Hathaway, of New Bedford, Alderman 
O'Brien, Thomas Riley, Esq., and a large number of 
prominent and respectable citizens. 

Mr. Donnelly, in an eloquent address, reminded his 
audience that the turmoil of a political campaign did not 
prevent them from assembling to do honor to brave men. 
Could they say that the spirit of the knights and saints of 
old was dead ? Did it not survive in the act of the brave 
men there present ? A year ago, and the escape of the 
political prisoners would have been deemed an impossi- 
bility ; it had been undertaken and executed by Mr. 
Breslin, who set out to rescue from bondage, ten thousand 
miles away, men whom he had never seen, men whose 
only crime was loving their country, perhaps not wisely, 
but too well, — if an Irishman could love his country too 
well. But the age of chivalry had been revived even in 
this hard, practical age by a generous Yankee captain. 
(Loud applause.) Many morals might be drawn from 
this event, but he would select one, — it was this : that 
when an Irishman and a Yankee combine to carry out an 
undertaking, they can do it in spite of the whole power 
of the British Empire. 

Mr. Donnelly then stated that he had received a letter 
from Wendell Phillips regretting his inability to attend, 
and expressing sympathy with the objects of the meeting. 
A telegram of similar import was read from General 
Butler, which concluded thus : "A prominent Massa- 
chusetts politician says that Fenianism should be crowded 
out of politics. Fenianism is the love of one's native land. 
I hope it may never be crushed out of the heart of any 
citizen of this country." 

Alderman O'Brien, the next speaker, said that when 
coming there he had no intention of making a speech. 
He came there in common with his fellow-citizens to ex- 
tend to these brave men a cordial welcome, and to show 



APPENDIX 209 

them that he felt as he spoke, he would shake hands with 
them all. He was followed by Thomas Riley, Esq., who 
began by likening the cause of Ireland to that patriotic 
society whose birth antedated that of George III., and 
which still lived on. The spirit of Irish liberty was not 
dead, as was proved by their presence there that night to 
do honor to a man and an act. The achievement of Mr. 
Breslin was worthy of the annals of an earlier era. Ire- 
land's history was one of oppression. An Englishman 
had once charged that the Irish were " an unpolished na- 
tion ; " to which a native of Ireland replied, " It ought 
not to be so, for we have received hard rubs enough to be 
polished long ago." It was acts like Mr. Breslin's that 
kept alive the spirit of liberty. Plantagenet and Tudor, 
and Stuart and Cromwell, all had dealt Ireland crushing 
blows, all had waded through seas of Irish gore ; yet all 
their dynasties had perished off the face of the earth, and 
the spirit of Irish liberty still survived. The worst of 
the Roman Emperors was Julian, yet he sent no Chris- 
tian to the cross or the wild beasts, he merely banned and 
barred Christian education, for he well knew that without 
education a nation relapsed into the depths of barbarism. 
England had done the same ; in her savage, barbarous 
penal code she ^had proscribed education and educators, 
but Ireland still clung to the light of liberty. She lis- 
tened to the sound of the battle of freedom in the West, 
and her sons caught the flame, and Flood, and Grattan, 
and the Volunteers raised her to nationhood, and crowned 
her with the star of freedom. She had lost that eminence, 
but the spirit burned again in the immortal O'Connell ; 
it still survived the golden-mouthed Father Burke. The 
speaker paid a touching tribute to the memory of John 
Mitchel, and denounced England as championing the in- 
iquity of the age, of upholding dead and rotten Turkey 
and her butcheries, and that the hour of retribution had 
arrived, if Russia would only advance. If England lost 
her temper in the threatened European complication. Ire- 



210 APPENDIX 

land would be her "beetle of mortality." During his 
eloquent address Mr. Riley was frequently applauded. 

Captain Hathaway, who succeeded him, said he was not 
an Irishman, but that was not his fault. He detailed the 
facts already published as to the inception of the plan of 
escape, how Mr. Devoy had approached him with a letter 
from his (Mr. H.'s) 'friend, Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, and 
the consequent chartering of the Catalpa. 

Captain Anthony, who divided attention with Mr. Bres- 
lin as the lion of the night, succeeded, and was greeted 
with a storm of applause, to which that man of deeds, 
not words, responded by two modest bows. 

Mr. John J. Breslin, who was enthusiastically received, 
then addressed the audience. He said that parliamentary 
action, prayers, and petitions had all failed to move the 
bowels of compassion of the British government in behalf 
of the prisoners, for the reason said government had no 
bowels. Mr. John Devoy, well and honorably known in 
'65, in 1873 began to actively agitate the plan of escape, 
and had, in the fall of 1874, raised funds sufficient to 
warrant him to make the attempt. The funds were raised 
in various ways ; one of John Mitchel's last lectures was 
given for the purpose. Mr. Devoy placed himself in 
communication with a gentleman whose high literary 
abilities and rare poetic talents had raised him to a prom- 
inent position among the journalists of the day ; by whom 
he (Mr. Devoy) was introduced to Captain Hathaway, of 
New Bedford, through whom the Catalpa was obtained. 
Mr. Breslin gave a clear, concise, and detailed account of 
his proceeding from first to last in carrying out the de- 
tails of the escape. Most of this has already appeared in 
our columns. His description of the face of the country, 
cities, geology, and flora of Western Australia was partic- 
ularly good, and show both scholarship and observation 
on his part. Alluding to the sandy nature of the soil, he 
related the followmg anecdote : An inhabitant meeting 
a " new chum," told him it was a fine country. " It is," 



APPENDIX 211 

said the latter, " so mighty fine that most of it would pass 
through a sieve." 

At the close of Mr. Breslin's address, the chairman an- 
nounced the meeting adjourned. Before and after the 
proceedings, Mr. Breslin, who is of commanding presence 
and courteous demeanor, was surrounded by groups of 
enthusiastic countrymen, each eager to express admiration 
and sympathy. — Pilots September 30, 1876. 



WHY DON'T ENGLAND DEMAND THE PRIS- 
ONERS ? 

Mr. Gladstone is an able man, watchful and jealous 
of the honor of England. He has written a pamphlet of 
great power on the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, in 
which he says that Turkey should be excluded from Bos- 
nia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, as a power unfit to rule 
civilized and Christian people. He says that the English 
government should lead in accomplishing this result, — 
" to redeem by these measures the honor of the British 
name, which in the deplorable events of the year has been 
more generally compromised than I have known it in any 
former period." That is true ; the past two or three 
years have torn away more of England's prestige than all 
her previous history. She has fallen into decay so fast 
that she has not made a single effort to reassert herself 
as a Great Power. When Russia broke the Black Sea 
Treaty, England growled, but backed down. She sees 
the Czar laying railways to Northern Asia, and she hears 
the tramp of his legions already on the border of Hindo- 
stan ; but she fears to stir a finger. When her Prime 
Minister, Disraeli, last year made an assertion that irri- 
tated Prussia, and that iron empire frowned, the fearful 
minister hastened to eat his words before the face of Bis- 
marck. When the Fenian prisoners — men whom she 
persisted in calling "criminals" — were taken from her 



212 APPENDIX 

in defiance of all her laws, she dare not demand them 
from the United States. Why ? Because the root of her 
greatness is split — the germ of her strength is rotten. 
Beside her heart she has the disease that will sooner or 
later strike her down. She has maltreated, misgoverned, 
scorned, derided the island and the people of Ireland, 
until oppression has generated in their hearts the terrible 
political mania of national hatred. God forbid that we 
should exult in such a feeling ; but no one who knows 
Ireland and Irishmen can deny its existence. England, 
to save herself, to possess the land, has driven the Irish 
people over the world ; but wherever they went they 
carried with them the bitter memory of their wrongs and 
hates. She has strengthened the world against herself. 
She is powerless and contemptible ; if she were to-day to 
demand the return of the Fenian prisoners, the people of 
all nations would shout in derision, and the United States 
would answer with a particular sneer. It is well for Mr. 
Gladstone to say that her honor is waning. But he has 
only seen the beginning of the end. The haughty and 
truculent country must eat the leek till its heart is sick. — 
Pilot, September 16, 1876. 

JAMES REYNOLDS, THE TREASURER 

James Reynolds, of New Haven, Conn., familiarly 
known as " Catalpa Jim," was born in County Cavan, Ire- 
land, on October 20, 1831. His ancestry dates back over 
fourteen hundred years to the noble sept MacRaghnaill, 
which the Irish historians tell us was a branch of the tribe 
called Conmaie, whose founder was Conmacrie, third son 
of Fergus MacRoigh, by Meive, the celebrated queen of 
Connaught, in the first century of the Christian era. 

He was but sixteen years of age when, during the 
memorable famine that peopled the cemeteries of Ire- 
land, he bade adieu to his native heath and sailed away 
to the distant shores of America, bearing with him a 



APPENDIX 213 

freight of precious memories that were to bear fruit in 
after years of patriotic endeavor. On his arrival in this 
country he at once apprenticed himself to learn the brass- 
founding trade, and in 1850 he settled in Connecticut, 
where he has since made his home. For twenty-eight 
years he has been a resident of New Haven, where he has 
received repeated political honors at the hands of his 
fellow citizens. For several years he has been at the 
head of the town government as town agent ; the only 
Irishman who has ever been elevated to this position in a 
city where Puritanic influences and prejudices have not 
yet wholly passed away. In addition to his municipal 
duties, Mr. Reynolds has for years conducted a lucrative 
and somewhat extensive business as a brass-founder. 

He early espoused the cause of his country and brought 
to its service all the energies of an active and impulsive 
nature. When, in the years following the rebellion, Irish 
patriotism was directed in a movement against England 
through her colonies in America, we find him foremost 
among those whose financial resources flowed freely into 
the common treasury. Not when his practical mind told 
him that not here lay the channel to Irish freedom did 
he close his purse-strings ; not even when a prudent judg- 
ment convinced him that here lay a waste of Irish blood 
and human treasures did he say nay to the appeal for 
funds. It was enough for him to know that even one 
blow was struck at England, one thrust was made in the 
great cause of Irish freedom. James Reynolds never 
believed that the liberation of Ireland was to be effected 
through the conquest of Canada. His strong native sense 
and sagacious foresight taught him the folly of such a 
hope, yet, when the movement was inaugurated, he en- 
tered into it heart and soul, with all the enthusiasm of 
his noble nature, hopeful that even one blow might be 
struck at the shackles that bound his country. 

But it was in the Catalpa movement that his great 
patriotism found its highest opportunity, and the name 



214 APPENDIX 

of James Reynolds gained the imperishable splendor of 
immortal fame. The history of that memorable expedi- 
tion is still fresh in the memory of Irishmen; how the 
little bark with its gallant crew sailed into Australian 
waters and bore away its precious freight, bringmg to 
freedom and glory those patriots who were expiating in 
exile their efforts for Ireland ; bidding bold defiance to 
the British man-of-war who gave her chase, and riding 
safely into the harbor of New York, — all these details 
are still green in the Irish memory. And while the fame 
of this daring rescue shall last ; while the name of Ca- 
talpa shall wake and fan the fires of Irish enthusiasm, so 
long will the name of James Reynolds be held in fond 
and loving remembrance. For it was he who mortgaged 
his home, who placed a chattel upon his household goods, 
who beggared himself for the time, that the sinews 
might be forthcoming to inaugurate and sustain the ex- 
pedition. Other choice spirits lent him their counsels 
and their fortunes, but James Reynolds gave his all that 
the Catalpa rescue might be consummated. True, the 
success of the expedition recompensed him in a measure 
for his financial sacrifices ; it brought back some of the 
little fortune he freely gave in the cause, but his chief 
reward, the glory of his great heart and the pride of his 
noble life, is the memory which he treasures, which his 
children and his children's children will carry in their 
hearts, that his sacrifices were not in vain, — that they 
brought humiliation to England, liberty and happiness 
to the rescued patriots, and eternal fame and glory to 
Ireland. 

When the Land League movement was inaugurated, he 
at once actively interested himself, and was one of the 
leading delegates at its first national convention. He has 
been a member of the succeeding ones, and has acted a 
number of times on the committee on resolutions. He 
was for several years a member of the executive coun- 
cil, the committee of seven, and was state delegate of the 



APPENDIX 215 

League for Connecticut. He enthused much of his own 
enthusiasm into the movement, and during his adminis- 
tration the League in the Nutmeg State was to the front 
in point of numbers and the character and influence of 
its work. 

James Reynolds is a pure, unselfish patriot ; around 
his name breathes a lustre undimmed by a single thought 
of personal ambition, the faintest breath of self-interest 
or individual aggrandizement. Other men have given 
greater intellectual gifts to the service of Ireland ; others 
have told her wrongs with a sublimer magic of eloquence, 
and waked the sympathies of men in the sweep of their 
mighty oratory ; and still others, perhaps, have braved a 
larger measure of personal danger ; but none has devoted 
his whole energies, his entire worldly fortune, with a 
loftier patriotism, a more generous spirit of sacrifice, 
than James Reynolds has for the little isle that gave him 
birth. 

Personally he is a man of genial temperament, frank, 
guileless, and companionable, unaffected in manner and 
speech, open-handed and generous ; a man whose friend- 
ships are firm and lasting ; a citizen whose activities are 
always beneficial. — The Irish-American Weekly, Lincoln, 
Neb., March 20, 1892. 



CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A. 

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY 

H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO. 



687 



u 



"c- 



-^^^y ^; 









:^i^ 






- >^.,. 






^ .A 



0^ 



^c^. 



U-' ,^;^ 



•^■' ^ 



''>-■ v? 






■<?' 



^^P ,vA^ 



% ^^'- 



'Q 



v^' 






-;_ 







.^ii^,^ 


,.^^' 


''t. 




'""^^ ^x^ 










- %. 




■~ \^- 





,0 



■V//:^. 



'^ -• * <r 






->, I 



, V- ^> 



** 



-V C^ 



» •, s ' ^<^* 



X^" 



\^ 



.V 



:.y ^- 






.^ 






'^, 



v^^ 



>^%„ 



^^A v^^' 



^ # 



,c. 



'^^ 



./- v^- 



:s ^ 






,%^ ^e 






•^/>. 






%<^^ 



\" * 



.c^' 



:- % 



